I-70 and US-40 near Idaho Springs were closed due to loose rocks Thursday

· Aug. 24, 2023, 4:30 pm
20230113-FLOYD-HILL-I-7020230113-FLOYD-HILL-I-70Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Traffic coming west down Floyd Hill on Interstate 70, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023.

Updated at 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2023:

I-70 reopened around 4:43 p.m.

Our original story continues below.


Danger from loose rocks led the Colorado Department of Transportation to close a section of Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs on Thursday afternoon.

CDOT also had closed part of U.S. 40, which parallels I-70, but reopened that shortly after 4 p.m.

An agency spokeswoman didn’t know when I-70 would reopen. 

The latest information is available at COtrip, the state’s real-time travel website. Google Maps showed traffic backing up for miles around the closure as of Thursday at 4 p.m.

CDOT closed the roads after blasting work that’s part of the massive expansion of I-70 at Floyd Hill, a steep climb near Idaho Springs that’s notorious for traffic backups. 

Work crews noticed a rock slab coming loose over the highway and made the call to close the roads, “just in case any chunks of rock were to fall,” said CDOT’s Presley Fowler.

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