Golden – A section of U.S. 6 that has been closed since a massive rock slide in June was scheduled to reopen this morning.
U.S. 6 through Clear Creek Canyon will open at 8 a.m., the Colorado Department of Transportation said Sunday evening.
Crews spent months excavating 40,000 cubic yards of rock and installing 60,000 square feet of wire mesh to prevent more slides on the unstable mountainside. They also replaced 1,000 tons of asphalt.
Workers still have to install about 10,000 square feet of additional wire mesh, but CDOT Project Engineer Russel Cox said the road would remain open. “We will install the fencing in the near future using a helicopter so we won’t have to impact traffic on the roadway any longer,” he said.
The total cost of the rockfall cleanup and mitigation is $3.2 million, transportation officials said.
With the road already closed for that work, maintenance crews also cleaned drains, patched and striped the highway, repaired guardrail and replaced tunnel lighting.
The closure diverted casino buses that normally take U.S. 6 to get to the gambling towns of Central City and Black Hawk onto Interstate 70. It also increased traffic on the 8-mile Central City Parkway connecting Central City directly to I-70.
