Highway crews are busy patching up the world’s highest paved road in anticipation of increased traffic during the Democratic National Convention.
The Colorado Department of Transportation is currently making repairs on two sections of the Mount Evans highway, which climbs to a 14,126-foot high parking lot and tops out.
The highway carries about 130,000 vehicles each year, and officials expect it to be even busier during and around the convention.
“We’ve been working on it last week and this week to do some repairs,” said Stacey Stegman, CDOT spokeswoman.
Extreme, high-altitude weather along the highway has taken a heavy toll in two particular spots, Stegman said, causing a “wave” or “roller-coaster effect” on one section and a partial collapse along the edge of another area.
Both trouble spots are toward the top of the highway.
Crews doing repairs are keeping the road open by alternating traffic and waving drivers through, Stegman said.
Drivers and their passengers on Mount Evans may see bighorn sheep or mountain goats along the highway, among other wildlife. Visitors should be ready for possible severe changes in weather on the mountain. The highway typically opens in May and closes in September.
The highway department plans to have the repairs done by the end of this week, Stegman said. The work will cost $30,000.
“We’ve been aware of these problems for a while,” Stegman said. “We knew there’s going to be extra traffic with the DNC, but repairs would have to have been done anyway.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
