CDOT marks 5-year anniversary of historic Glenwood Canyon damage with 6-part mini-documentary, “From Ashes to Asphalt: Glenwood Canyon Recovery”

Statewide — To commemorate the five-year anniversary of the catastrophic 2021 landslides, known as debris flows, that buried Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon on Aug. 1, 2021, the Colorado Department of Transportation today released a six-part mini-documentary series titled “From Ashes to Asphalt: The Glenwood Canyon Recovery”.

The series provides a behind-the-scenes look at the resilience of Colorado’s infrastructure and the round-the-clock efforts of maintenance crews, engineers, geologists, heavy equipment operators and emergency responders. Together, these crews worked tirelessly to battle the Grizzly Creek Fire in 2020 and establish safety protocols in 2021, ultimately restoring the interstate after it was severed by thousands of tons of rock and mud.

Because the canyon cuts directly through Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, its closure forced standard travelers and freight drivers onto a northern Colorado detour that added two and a half to four hours of extra driving time. At the time, the economic impact of shutting down Colorado’s primary east-west interstate artery was staggering, costing the Colorado economy an estimated $1 million for every hour the road was closed.

“The devastating destruction in Glenwood Canyon in 2021 showed us the unprecedented scale of disasters our mountain corridors face, but the threat hasn't stopped,” said Shoshana Lew, CDOT executive director. “With severe wildfires actively threatening our state, CDOT must remain incredibly nimble, shifting from long-term recovery to rapid, real-time emergency response. Our crews, contractors, and emergency responders are operating around the clock to keep Colorado’s essential lifelines open. We cannot protect this infrastructure alone; our ability to adapt quickly is thanks to our partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Geological Survey (USGS), and local emergency teams.”

How to Watch

All six episodes of “From Ashes to Asphalt: The Glenwood Canyon Recovery” are available to stream on CDOT’s official YouTube channel and online at codot.gov. CDOT will also feature short-form highlights and interactive before-and-after imagery across its social media channels throughout the anniversary week.

Ashes to Asphalt: The Glenwood Canyon Recovery

The six-part series combines archival footage and firsthand accounts from those on the front lines of the recovery effort. All six episodes are available to stream on CDOT’s official YouTube channel and online at codot.gov. 

Episode 1: The Fire – The series begins in August 2020, when the historic Grizzly Creek Fire burned more than 32,000 acres across the steep canyon walls framing the I-70 Mountain Corridor. By stripping away the vegetation anchoring the fragile topsoil, the wildfire set the stage for an unprecedented crisis.

Episode 2: Foresight of Floods – After warnings from USGS, CDOT and the City of Glenwood Springs race to anticipate the next major threat: catastrophic debris flows, triggered by the scorched landscape.

Episode 3: When the Mountain Came Down – In the summer of 2021—one year after the Grizzly Creek Fire was contained—severe monsoon storms over the burn scar triggered massive, destructive mudslides that nearly dammed the Colorado River. Over just a five-day span in late July, the canyon received nearly double its average rainfall for the entire month, pouring nearly five inches of rain compared to the typical 2.4-inch monthly average.

Episode 4: Interstate 70 is Severed – Following relentless mud and rock slides and closures throughout June, a massive slide on July 29 stranded roughly 100 people overnight in their vehicles and inside the Hanging Lake Tunnel. Thanks to early weather warnings, strict safety protocols, and strategic equipment staging, rescue crews safely evacuated everyone with zero serious injuries.

Episode 5: A Goliath Rebuilding – A historic rainfall on July 31 unleashed a catastrophic debris flow in an area known as Blue Gulch that forced a full two-week shutdown of the interstate. This event resulted in the most destructive infrastructure damage in the history of Colorado's I-70 Mountain Corridor, with both directions impassable. The slides also severely damaged roadways, retaining walls, bridges, and the Glenwood Canyon recreation trail. In just a single weekend in early August, CDOT crews hauled out more than 440 truckloads of debris, with each load weighing roughly 13 tons, kicking off a monumental two-year restoration.

Episode 6: Forging the Future –Discover how the lessons learned from Glenwood Canyon are transforming the future of I-70 through advanced geohazard monitoring and climate-resilient engineering.