I-70 closure in Glenwood Canyon may last weeks; state to declare disaster

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis soon volition contented a authorities catastrophe declaration for the mudslides that person unopen down Interstate 70 done Glenwood Canyon for an extended play — which helium said could beryllium anyplace from “a fewer days to a fewer weeks.”

State officials besides program to question national wealth and resources arsenic crews respond to repeated debris flows acceptable escaped successful the past week by monsoon rains implicit portions of the Grizzly Creek occurrence pain scar. Polis said 4 inches of rainfall fell successful the canyon successful 5 days; that’s astir treble the mean monthly rainfall full for July.

“We person to marque it done this monsoon play — erstwhile the frost hits, it’s little apt to beryllium a dire situation,” Polis said. “But we are inactive not retired of this yet. We request to ticker this intimately for the adjacent fewer weeks, and it could get worse.”

The Colorado Department of Transportation is inactive assessing important harm to some the little and precocious decks of I-70 successful sections adjacent the Hanging Lake Tunnel, enforcement manager Shoshana Lew said during a quality league with Polis. Large rocks and different debris fell down the canyon successful caller days and parts of the eastbound lanes stay underwater, she said.

Some harm inactive was concealed Monday by up to 10 feet of mud, Polis said, underlining that the caller slides overwhelmed the road — and dammed up the Colorado River — much severely than previous debris flows this summer. Lew outlined the request for short-term repairs portion CDOT figures retired semipermanent fixes that could instrumentality months.

The harm is astir apt successful the tens of millions of dollars, she said.

“My directive to CDOT is to reopen (I-70) arsenic rapidly arsenic possible,” Polis said, “with astatine slightest immoderate exemplary for the travel of postulation — adjacent 1 lane each absorption — and past to hopefully reconstruct afloat functionality by skis play to Glenwood Canyon.”

It wasn’t mislaid connected Lew and Polis that the disruption from the closure of the large east-west road ripples beyond Colorado, from Western Slope commutes to the trucking manufacture to summertime tourer traffic.

Until now, CDOT has recommended conscionable 1 free-flowing detour way that tin grip each traffic, on U.S. 40 to the north. The emblematic confederate detour for canyon closures — on U.S. 50 done Gunnison — has been blocked this summertime by an intensive operation project.

Lew said Monday that CDOT suspended operation and reopened U.S. 50 afloat for astatine slightest this week.