LEADVILLE, Colo.—State highway workers are analyzing soil samples to determine how to go about repairing a 20-foot-wide, 100-foot-deep hole that prompted the closure of U.S. 24 north of Leadville.
The highway remained closed Thursday in both directions at Tennessee Pass. The hole is beside the road.
Motorists can still get to locations on either side of the closure, including the Camp Hale recreation area. Through traffic from Leadville to Red Cliff, 25 miles to the north, must take a detour of about 60 miles.
The Colorado Department of Transportation says the hole opened Monday because the soil gave way above an abandoned railroad tunnel far below the surface.
Officials had called the opening a sinkhole but now say that term is technically incorrect because of the way the hole formed.
