Transportation officials say drivers in Colorado's high country can expect delays this week on Interstate 70 in Georgetown.
CDOT crews are installing fencing above the highway to prevent rocks from falling on the road. Monday and Wednesday, one westbound lane of I-70 will be closed between Georgetown Hill and Silver Plume from 10:30 a.m. to sundown. On Tuesday and Thursday, traffic in both directions will be stopped for up to 20 minutes at a time.
“This is a major area where we’ve had rockfall events over the past decade,” says CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman. “It’s a problem area for us; we’ve had numerous projects and spent over ten million dollars trying to address the safety concerns here.”
Stegman says the impact on drivers should be minimal. The risk of rocks falling into the road is higher in the spring when warm temperatures during the day and colder nighttime temperatures can loosen them. In April crews fully shut down I-70 to remove larger boulders from the slope above the highway.
