Giant Boulders close 1-70 in Colorado

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/08/colorado.rock.slide/index.html?hpt=Sbin

TC

The road will be closed for a LOOOOOONG time and the detour is 200 miles (in the mountains). Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Have traveled that road many times. Even did the bike and hike up to the lake about half way. Am going thru there this summer again. Is that the portion that has the double deck road?

2+2:
Yes it is and it is right where you biked - area called Hanging Lakes. Put a hole in the upper level of the interstate that is 24ft x 33ft.

Just drove that stretch of I-70 last fall. A beautiful trip.

This happend recently here in NC on I-40, three miles east of the TN border. Both lanes of I-40 have been closed since late October when the hillside fell on the road. In the pix that I've seen there were boulders the size of some of our Wildcats. I kid you not.

The problem with these slides is, that to clear them they have to start at the top and work down. Also, they have to reduce the risk of further slides and bring down more of the moutain. That's alot of blasting to get rid of the rock.

The detour around this slide is not as bad as the CO one; only about 60 miles, by using the I-26 bypass up to I-81 at Johnson City, TN and then back south to the junction with I-40. Unlike CO, its Interstate driving all the way.

The road will be open again in late April, but that date has been postponed twice by the unusually bad winter that we've had here. I'd bet that winter in the CO mountains can be twice as bad has here. I don't envy the road crews out there.


Bummer .....

I've been away, but Glenwood Canyon was opened one lane each direction a week ago (3/14) when I went through out to Moab. I believe they had it opened the thursday afternoon prior to that. 14 foot width restriction, but no problems at all getting through.