Stumping for governor on the Western Slope this weekend, Jared Polis said the solution for Front Range traffic includes bicycles and trains between Denver and Fort Collins and “zip lanes and reversible lanes” in the mountains, he told The Steamboat Pilot & Today.

He said building more lanes on interstates 25 and 70 can’t solve the problem alone, according to his chat with reporter Eleanor C. Hasenbeck.

The Democratic nominee made 13 stops in Western Colorado Friday through Sunday, the weekend before the Club 20 debate in Grand Junction on Sept. 8, which he is choosing to skip. The snub for the debate, a 30-year tradition, left some bruised feelings, even though Polis plans to debate Republican Walker Stapleton on Oct. 6 in Grand Junction.

Hasenbeck reported on Polis’ meet-and-greet at Steamboat Flyfisher Sunday.

Polis said he plans to augment Gov. John Hickenlooper’s statewide water plan, especially when it comes to farmers. He has no plan to pump more Western Slope water to the Front Range to feed growth.

RELATED: Polis’ plan to skip Club 20 debate kicks up a fuss on the Western Slope

“We want to look at additional conservation measures on the ag side, both rewarding and incentivizing farmers for water-efficient practices as well as the urban and suburban interface with new developments using the best technology around water conservation,” he told the Pilot.

He addressed the high price of insurance in mountain towns by moving the state to one pricing zone or at least fewer zones “because it’s completely unfair that Routt County residents are paying 40 percent more than Clear Creek or Mesa County or Denver residents.”

“It hurts the livability of our communities, and we’re going to fix it,” he pledged

Polis cited public lands as part of Colorado identity and the heritage of the West.

“Most of our economy revolves around our public lands, so I will stand up to (U.S.) Secretary (of the Interior Ryan) Zinke or President Trump or any president that wants to come after our Western way of life and our public lands,” he said

Read the full interview by clicking here.