The eastbound Interstate 70 tunnel at Hanging Lake will reopen early Wednesday after six months of repairs costing $6 million, state officials said today.
The bore has been closed since March 30, when an inspection of the tunnel complex revealed that a crack had expanded since it was first discovered in July 2006.
The tunnel complex is situated in one of most picturesque areas on I-70 between Denver and Glenwood Springs.
The crack was located in an outside transition tunnel that links the control building to the tunnel bore.
The 4,000-foot long tunnel runs between two mountains with the tunnel control center located in the middle. The tunnel was completed in 1992 as part of the 12.5-mile Glenwood Canyon construction that began in 1980.
Repairs included removing a section of the suspended steel ceiling system to put equipment in place; shoring and bracing the 4.5-foot concrete ceiling slab; and excavating approximately 30 feet of top soil to reach the top of the slab where the crack was exposed on top.
Two additional reinforced concrete slabs were installed, which sandwiched the damaged slab.
The 60-foot high tunnel control building houses tunnel and and traffic monitoring equipment, staff offices, a parking structure and ventilation systems.
The primary work was done by Concrete Works of Colorado, which moved heavy equipment to the site on rail cars.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said today that work will continue until late November, following the opening of the eastbound bore tomorrow morning.
The remaining work will include drainage improvements above the transition tunnel and seeding.
For added reinforcement and shock absorption, crews will also place a 10-foot thick layer of polystyrene foam blocks above the transition tunnel, then backfill the area with four feet of soil reinforced with a geotextile material.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
