The Fruita Fireworks put smiles on a lot of people's faces, but the traffic congestion afterwards resulted in frustrated and unhappy motorists as tempers flared.

Thousands of people turned out to watch the Fruita fireworks display on Sunday, and, as can be unexpected, getting that many people out of town at once can be a great challenge.

The Fruita Police Department had issued a plan for post-fireworks traffic control - and it sounded like a good plan.

No Northbound Traffic will be allowed on Hwy 340
Vehicles entering the Frontage Rd. from any side street will be able to go east or westbound, but if they go westbound, they will have to take the eastbound I-70 on ramp to Exit 26. They will not be able to access Hwy 340 until all traffic has been cleared

There will be no exceptions to these directions in order to ease traffic getting out from the side streets on the west side of Hwy 340.

Feeder streets exiting onto Hwy 340 will be taken in waves allowing cars to exit each area in turn.

The problem was that the plan was not executed as stated. It was a full 18 minutes after the fireworks before any cars on side streets were allowed onto Hwy 340. That completely explains why horns were honking and tempers were flaring.

I'm sure many lessons were learned on this night - by those in charge of traffic control as well as many of those in attendance. Those people may be re-thinking where they park in the future, or if it's even worth going out for.

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