Interstate 70 reopened west of Glenwood Springs on Wednesday after a mudslide closed the highway for several days, according to the .
One lane each of westbound and eastbound I-70 are open between Silt and New Castle, the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said at 6 p.m.
The highway first closed at 7 p.m. Monday, when “torrential rain and hail flooded the area,” sending a debris flow of mud, logs and rocks across the road, according to a news release from CDOT. The mudslide covered more than 300 yards of I-70 and was more than 3 feet deep in some areas, the release stated.
A showed the mud- and water-covered highway on Monday, along with traffic backed up in both directions. Flooding also shut down several county roads in the area that evening, according to the sheriff’s office.
“There is a lot of material for the crews to clear and water to drain,” CDOT Regional Transportation Director Jason Smith said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are working hard to get this cleared up to get this vital road back open as soon as possible.”
Debris flows are destructive, fast-moving slurries of water-saturated rock, soil, vegetation and other organic materials that travel down slopes, state transportation officials said in the release. They move “like a river of liquid mud and rock” and can exceed speeds of 35 mph, officials said.
Often triggered by intense rainfall or rapid snowmelt, debris flows are more common in areas recently scarred by wildfires or in extremely dry conditions, according to state transportation officials.
