Colorado Department of Transportation is advising travelers to avoid traveling over the mountains on Interstate 70 Thursday, due to a natural avalanche and continued avalanche mitigation work.
The cleanup efforts for the avalanches near Vail and Copper Mountain, and avalanche mitigation near Eisenhower and Johnson tunnels will likely take much of the day.
“We’re going to have a pretty challenging day again on I-70,” CDOT spokesperson Tracy Trulove said Thursday.
As of mid-morning, I-70 was still closed between Vail and Copper Mountain due to a natural slide that occurred around 1:45 a.m. that brought down about 6 feet of snow over the westbound lanes, Trulove said.
No one was injured in that slide, though a tow truck did get trapped by the slide and had to be towed out.
After shutting down I-70 for that slide, avalanche mitigation teams began setting charges around 7:45 a.m., and brought down a significant amount of snow, at least 15 feet deep on the interstate at some places, that will have to be cleaned up.
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CDOT had hoped to reopen I-70 at Vail by 9:30, but now it’s “looking like closer to a 6-hour cleanup,” Trulove said.
I-70 westbound is closed for avalanche mitigation near the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel, and Loveland Pass is also closed. It’s unclear how long the mitigation and cleanup will take.
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All commercial vehicle traffic is being staged, Trulove said, as the alternate routes around the interstate closures are slippery and already congested.
“Travel on alternate routes is for passenger vehicles only,” Trulove said. Eastbound commercial vehicles are advised to park in De Beque or Glenwood Springs, as truck lots in Dotsero are full.
The snowfall over the past few weeks has prompted the Colorado Avalanche Information Center to upgrade the risk of snow slides for Aspen, Gunnison, Vail and Summit counties to extreme Thursday, the highest risk level.
Most mountain areas in Colorado are under avalanche warnings due to “exceptional avalanche conditions.”
“Every inch of avalanche terrain is extremely dangerous today,” CAIC said in a statement Thursday. “Avalanches are running to valley floors and some are exceeding historic run outs.”
