The Colorado Department of Transportation warns drivers planning to travel the Interstate 70 mountain corridor through Clear Creek County this week to add about 45 minutes to their travel time.
Beginning Monday, CDOT crews will perform rock scaling work on the cliff wall between mile markers 240 and 241 in Idaho Springs. To maintain public safety, officials say the work requires stopping I-70 traffic in both directions intermittently each day between the hours of 6 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 6 a.m. till noon on Friday.
Eastbound I-70 traffic will be stopped at Exit 239 and westbound traffic at Exit 241 while crews remove loose rocks from two cliff walls above the highway.
Crews will work for 20 minutes at a time to remove loosened rocks from the rock face while I-70 traffic is stopped before verifying the slope is stable and releasing traffic. Depending on the length of the queue that needs to clear, drivers could experience delays of up to 45 minutes. As soon as the queues are cleared in each direction, I-70 traffic will again be stopped so scaling operations can continue.
Unlike the recent emergency rock fall mitigation work when contractors used large equipment to remove boulders in danger of falling onto I-70 near Floyd Hill, this week’s work involves using hand-held tools to remove loose rock from the slopes so anchor bolts and mesh material can be installed on the slopes to mitigate rock slides.
