Overnight snow brought hazardous conditions early today to high country highways west of Denver, causing several closures including those of two of the state’s most popular high-altitude roads.
Trail Ridge Road — U.S. 34 through Rocky Mountain National Park — is closed but may reopen later today, said Brian Jordan of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Also closed for part of the morning was the Mount Evans Highway, the highest paved road in North America. Jordan said the road, known as Colorado 5, was closed to Summit Lake but was reopened by noon.
The four-mile stretch of the highway from Summit Lake to the top of the mountain closed earlier this month and remains closed for the season.
One popular high altitude road, Colorado 82 over Independence Pass between Twin Lakes and Aspen, remains open.
Jordan said when the high-altitude highways will officially close depends.
“They could close at anytime. Usually it is late September or early October. It just depends on the weather,” he said.
U.S. 285 at Kenosha Pass was closed earlier today due to a jackknifed semi but had reopened by 9 a.m., said Stacey Stegman, a CDOT spokesperson.
The pass had experienced wet and icy conditions.
Slush and icy spots were reported on Interstate 70 at Georgetown, Silverthorne and Copper Mountain. The Eisenhower Tunnel had snow, ice, and snowpacked conditions early this morning.
However, Jordan said that by mid-morning all the ice and snow on I-70 had melted under a warm sun.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
