I-70 Construction in Colorado Could Snarl Traffic

Published September 28, 2023 03:27PM

If you live in Denver or fly into Denver International Airport, you know the headache that is Colorado’s I-70 during the ski season. After all, most of the state’s ski areas are located off of this main East-West artery that crosses the Rockies and features several mountain passes.

The drive from Denver, which should only take an hour and some change to the closest resorts, including Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone, can easily take double or even triple that during the winter months. You could be in for it if you’re driving on a Saturday or Sunday morning (or Friday after work). The same goes for driving back from the mountains on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Holiday weekends only extend the problem by another day.

Then there’s the added complications of snowy roads, car accidents, road work, and perhaps most importantly, a growing number of people who want to ski. Last winter was the busiest ski season on record, with over 65 million people hitting the slopes, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Not surprisingly, almost half of those visits were in the Rocky Mountain region (27.9 million).

All that’s to say, there are a lot of people driving the I-70 corridor. The interstate was featured heavily in the state’s Ten-Year Plan released in September 2022, and the most expensive project on the list, the I-70 Floyd Hill Project, kicked off in June 2023.

The I-70 Floyd Hill Project, which will encompass an eight-mile section of I-70 between Evergreen and Idaho Springs, will impact I-70 drivers until the end of 2028—the next six ski seasons. The main goal of the project is to eliminate the two-lane bottleneck by adding a third westbound lane, which will be a full-time, tolled Express Lane.

If you’re disappointed that the third lane will be an express lane, you’re not alone. Stacia Sellers, Colorado Department of Transportation’s strategic communications lead for major projects and operations, acknowledged that it’s not an ideal nor a particularly popular solution, and said CDOT is limited in what it could do given the constraints of the geography and other factors. “CDOT is at the point that we can’t build our way out of congestion,” she explained, “especially with Colorado’s population projected to increase by over 600,000 residents by 2030.”

In addition to the third, westbound Express Lane, the Floyd Hill Project will rebuild bridges with wear and tear, construct a missing two-mile section of frontage road, extend the on-ramp from US 6 to eastbound I-70, and generally improve traffic flow and safety. The project will also enhance wildlife connectivity and include the installation of two air-quality monitors.

The project’s Floyd Hill Express Lane will feed into the existing Mountain Express Lane that runs from the Veterans Memorial Tunnels in Idaho Springs to the US-40 Empire interchange, which is the route to Winter Park over Berthoud Pass. The latter only operates on peak weekend and holiday travel days but will provide weekend skiers with a combined 16 miles of express toll lane.

It won’t come cheap, though. Toll lane pricing for the new Express Lane has not been set, but the cost to take the current Mountain Express Lane is $8-$9 for cars with an ExpressToll pass and between $14.67 and $16.25 for drivers without a pass—each way.

If you’re not willing to pay upward of $30 to get to and from the ski area more efficiently, you’ll be stuck in the regular lanes. Kent Slaymaker, who lives in Idaho Springs, told local Denver news that he believes the project will only result in three lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic instead of two.

However, according to a July 2021 press release on the westbound Mountain Express Lane, “Corridor travel studies show that given the introduction of projects like this, drivers in all three lanes see travel time savings of anywhere between 20-50%.”

The project is being broken up into three sections—east, central, and west. This winter and spring, work will be done on all three sections at once.

To avoid making I-70’s notorious traffic worse, Sellers says “Crews will not be doing work on mainline I-70 during the weekend. Work will also not be performed on weekdays during peak period hours (times when we start to see heavier traffic). The Project generally works within a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. timeframe Sundays to Thursdays.”

She encourages I-70 drivers to sign up for CDOT’s Floyd Hill Project eblasts, which will tell drivers when work will be taking place.

If you’re in the Denver area and want to avoid I-70 altogether, you can either ski Eldora Mountain, the only neighboring ski area that doesn’t require a drive on I-70, or book a ticket on the Winter Park Express, an Amtrak train that runs between Union Station and Winter Park Resort on Fridays, Saturday, and Sundays between January 13 and March 26. As of writing, there are still $25 one-way fares available.

You can also head south to Crested Butte via I-25 and avoid I-70 altogether. It’s further away, over 200 miles from DIA vs. just under 100 miles to Copper Mountain, but rarely sees serious traffic delays.

The other option is to take the Snowstang, a bus that transports skiers from downtown Denver to Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland Ski Area, Steamboat Springs, and Breckenridge during the winter season. While you won’t be able to avoid the traffic, you can at least zone out or nap.

The Snowstang will be able to use the new Floyd Hill Express Lane when it is completed, but cannot use the existing Mountain Express Lane due to size constrictions. Snowstang rates for the 2023-’24 ski season have not been released, but last year, skiers could take the bus to and from Denver for $25 roundtrip.

For road conditions and construction updates, check COtrip.org and sign up to get personalized updates on your routes.

Winter Construction on Colorado’s I-70 Will Impact Skiers. Here’s What You Need to Know.