A boulder as big as a small pickup truck crashed onto the east-bound lanes of Interstate-70 eight miles east of Glenwood Springs early this morning, closing traffic, officials say.
The boulder, which fell about 1 a.m., did not strike any vehicles or cause significant damage to the highway, said Stacey Stegman, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman.
Smaller rocks tumbled onto the Westbound lanes near the Canyon Lake tunnel causing a closure for about one hour while crews cleared the highway, Stegman said.
Workers using a front-end loader cleared the bigger boulder from the Eastbound lanes within two hours, she said.
The rock slide is a sign of the season, Stegman said. Glenwood Canyon is prone to rock slides but especially this time of the year when rain or snow falls, freezes and then thaws, dislodging rocks that cause avalanches, she said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
