‹‹ Colorado Matters

Trying To Get A Handle On Mudslides

Listen Now
12min 10sec
Mudslide on I-70
Courtesy of CDOT
At least five mudslides on Saturday, July 3, 2021, closed Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon along the burn scar of the Grizzly Creek fire.

Open again, closed again. That’s the way it’s been for a major interstate through Colorado for the last few weeks. Mudslides -- or the threat of them -- have led to frequent closures of I-70 around Glenwood Springs near the site of last year’s Grizzly Creek wildfire. And according to Colorado School of Mines geologist Paul Santi, it isn’t just burn scars that are causing trouble.