Now a road less traveled, Otto Mears Toll Road was the start of a Colorado empire

Now a road less traveled, Otto Mears Toll Road was the start of a Colorado empire

SAGUACHE COUNTY — Long before a turnpike connected Boulder and Denver in 1952 or express lanes started opening up and down the Front Range and into the mountains, Otto Mears was crafting ways to charge for easier travel in Colorado in the late 1800s. Otto Mears (Image courtesy History Colorado-Denver, 2022.57.3492) I stumbled on his name when my wife and I — children of the TV generation — went on a Sunday drive in search of Bonanza, Colorado. …