Posted on 02/16/2016 9:28:40 AM PST by MtnClimber
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. -- A 24-mile stretch of Interstate 70 remained closed Tuesday because of a second rock slide in Glenwood Canyon, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.
The Colorado State Patrol said the slide caused major damage to the highway. CDOT closed the interstate between Exit 116 in Glenwood Springs and Exit 140 in Gypsum just after 10 p.m., and said Tuesday morning it will remain shut down "until further notice."
There is no estimate for when the interstate will reopen.
The detour around the closure takes about 4 hours.
Gotta be caused by “Climate Change/Global Warming”...
:)
This is EXTREMELY bad news for Colorado and even the nation.
I-70 is the ONLY major route into Colorado from the West, which means difficulties in obtaining goods and food products from the Pacific coast states.
It also bad news for the nation as I-70 is one of only a couple major east-west coast-to-coast routes across the middle part of the country.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4535956,-104.8701856,5z?hl=en
It damaged the highway so it may be closed for a while.
Great chapter in “Atlas Shrugged” when the tunnel through the Rockies becomes inaccessible.
“It damaged the highway so it may be closed for a while.”
I know. That “a while” is what is worrisome.
That is a beautiful stretch of highway, but very precarious. Sheer rock walls very close to the roadway.
That is the Moffat Tunnel. I can see it from my living room. It is about 6-7 miles away. That railroad runs just north of my house, about 1,500 ft elevation lower.
oops sorry that is SO Y-U-G-E
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14633690
Has photos
Ouch. I visited Aspen one October, via Independence Pass. Drove out to Glenwood via I-70 and back to Denver via I-70..the Pass closed 2 weeks into October. Not a road I’d want to count on for a commute. It’s a beautiful spot, though.
They are usually pretty good with getting these slides cleaned up. Past experience says the corridor should reopen within a couple days, even if it is just single lane.
That article is from 2010. Boy - it HAS taken them a long time!
The canyon is vertical rocks on both sides. A road through it is just playing a game of come-get-me with nature.
Actually global warming did cause it. (previously known as spring) Water gets into cracks in rocks and then freezes, which expands the cracks but also keeps the rocks frozen to the hillside. When global warming hits, like Colorado has had the last week, ice melts, and some rocks then don’t have enough keeping them attached to the hillside.
Plus the Glenwood Canyon stretch of the Highway does not lend itself to easy repairs. A good chunk of it is elevated on piers and the rest is wedged between a river and a mountain.
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