Glenwood Canyon still on schedule for daytime closure tomorrow

GARFIELD COUNTY/GLENWOOD SPRINGS – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will move forward with a full closure of I-70 in Glenwood Canyon tomorrow.

On Tuesday, Mar. 8 there will be a daytime closure from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. from exit 116 (Glenwood Springs) to exit 133 (Dotsero).  Weather permitting, crews are planning to utilize a helicopter to put rockfall netting in place on the slope where the original slide occurred.  The construction team will also take the opportunity to continue road repairs on both the westbound and eastbound decks.

Safety closures of the Hanging Lake, Grizzly Creek and Shoshone rest areas remain in effect while traffic is in the head-to-head configuration. Bair Ranch (on the east side) and No Name (west side) rest areas will remain open. The Glenwood Canyon Bike Path remains closed as well. (Please note, local traffic coming from the west can travel as far as No Name; local traffic from the east can travel as far as Bair Ranch during this daytime closure.)

ALTERNATE ROUTES/TRAFFIC IMPACTS:

Front Range motorists/Summit County/westbound motorists

CO 9 (Silverthorne) to US 40 (Steamboat Springs) west on US 40 (Craig) south to CO 13 (Rifle)

Eagle County/westbound motorists

CO 131 at Wolcott to Steamboat Springs, west on US 40 to Craig, then south on CO 13 to Rifle and back to I-70. This is a 203-mile alternate route that will take about three hours and 50 minutes to travel. This detour adds 146 miles and about three hours to a regular trip from Wolcott to Rifle on I-70, which is 67 miles or about 45 minutes.

South alternate route

Uses US 50. Access to US 50 is available via Grand Junction for eastbound drivers and for westbound drivers by way of US 24/285 through the Salida area from the Front Range. (Please note, there is construction on US 24 over Trout Creek Pass east of Johnson Village in Chaffee County into early March; some blasting and up to 30-minute delays may be encountered.)

Cottonwood Pass in Eagle County and Independence Pass are both closed and not available as alternate routes. Frying Pan Road and Hagerman Pass are not recommended alternate routes.

BUSTANG SERVICE to and from Glenwood Springs has resumed.  Adjustments to the arrival and departure times from Glenwood Springs will be required due to the pace car operation.  The times will be posted early this week at  www.ridebustang.com.

TRAFFIC THROUGH THE CANYON:  The average daily traffic for Glenwood Canyon is around 300 vehicles per hour. Around the evening of the incident the average traffic was about 150 per hour; the volume starts to drop off significantly after 11:00 p.m. to less than 100 vehicles per hour.

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