I am back and the blog must go on. I took some time off for the birth of my first child, a little girl weighing in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. It was an unbelievable and forever memorable experience for my wife and me. Thanks to all who have passes along their advice and well wishes for our new family.

This is the last day for me in the traffic command center for a while. My wife, Gina is pregnant with our first child. The due date was Sunday so Wednesday is the induction day making today my last day on air for a week and a half. I will update this later but for now Rich Westra and Metro traffic will take over reporting duties for a little while. I will be back on Tuesday September 30th.

We started off the commute quiet on the highways but with a few side street crashes. One happened on York at I-70 and the other a rollover on Westminster Blvd at 104th. We also had heavier than normal traffic in Golden with the Senator Obama rally at the Colorado School of Mines.

The sun took over and it was tough to deal with. All the EB routes were much slower than normal into the sunshine.

Just after 7 we had a horrible crash on WB Arapahoe Road at Waco. That is east of Parker road. Several cars were involved and the road was closed for the cleanup and the crash investigation.

The drive started out without a baby, yes my wife Gina is still pregnant, and without any problems. That quickly changed, at least in the problem department.

Shortly before 5:30 this morning we had a 3 car crash with one of them rolled over. It was at one of, in my opinion, most dangerous and toughest merges in town, I-25 and Alameda. The ramps there are too short and too close together to allow safe passage onto the highway. Rescue vehicles blocked all but the left lane and traffic quickly backed up to Broadway. Once the emergency vehicles left only the right lane was blocked and traffic got by the crash in ok fashion. It still took a while to get the crash cleared up and off the highway.

The next crash happened at the end of the ramp from Wadsworth to EB C-470 where a car hit a deer. It was out of traffic but still provided a light show for the drivers on the highway.

The next major problem that turned out to be a problem for the rest of the morning was the super bright sunshine. It was very tough and this time of year it makes for a very slow 7 o’clock commute.

We did have a little traffic jam near 6th Ave near Indiana for the people going to the Gov Palin rally at the Jeffco Fairgrounds. It quickly turned into a huge traffic jam for those on NB 470 getting onto EB I-70 and onto EB 6th Ave.

The end of the rush came very late after a pair of crashes on I-25 south of Hampden, one NB the other SB. The double trouble happened shortly after 8 o’clock and made for a long line of commuters waiting on the highway for most of the hour.

This is a link to a story in the Lone Tree Voice about the work on Lincoln Ave east of I-25 and the headaches drivers have dealt with all summer.