FORT COLLINS — Fans driving from Denver to Hughes Stadium early Saturday afternoon for the 5 p.m. Colorado State-Boise State game encountered overhead message boards advising that Interstate 25 was closed ahead because of an accident.
GAMETRACKER:
It turned out that the accident happened at 12:03 p.m., near Mead at mile marker 243 and Colorado Highway 66, and the Colorado Department of Transportation said the northbound side of the freeway was closed until about 1:30 p.m.
Heeding the message boards, many travelers planning to get to the game early for pregame tailgating or for other reasons left the freeway at the Highway 52 or 119 exits, headed west to Longmont and then came up U.S. Highway 287 to Fort Collins.
Others got caught in the long backup south of the accident.
No details about the accident were available.
The timing of the closure was such that it didn’t prevent anyone traveling from the Denver area to get to the stadium in time for the kickoff. But it delayed arrivals of those coming early from the south, perhaps including Boise State fans staying in Denver.
CSU (2-3) is attempting to rebound from a 33-18 loss at Utah State in the Rams’ Mountain West opener, but defending league champion Boise State comes in with a 4-1 overall record and is ranked 25th nationally.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @tfrei
