Overnight Closure of I-70 Next Week

April 28, 2011 - TRAFFIC ADVISORY - Central Eastern Colorado/CDOT Region 1 - CLEAR CREEK COUNTY – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will be closing westbound Interstate 70 in the Floyd Hill area next week to allow full-width expansion joints to be removed and replaced across the Clear Creek Bridge.

All lanes of westbound I-70 will be closed, from the Beaver Brook Interchange (Exit 248) west to the U.S. 6 Interchange (Exit 244), during the following hours:

  • 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. – Sunday, May 1
  • 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. – Monday, May 2, through Thursday, May 5

Traffic will be detoured off I-70 at Beaver Brook – Exit 248, and use U.S. 40 (parallels I-70) to U.S. 6, at the bottom of Floyd Hill.  All traffic then will take U.S. 6 back to I-70.

To maintain safety due to additional traffic, law enforcement officers and flaggers will be directing vehicles along the 4 ½ mile detour route.  Temporary stops signs also will be placed at key locations along U.S. 40 where side road traffic normally does not stop.

“We’re removing and replacing five expansion joints that cross the entire structure so we can’t do that type of work without closing the bridge to traffic,” says CDOT Project Engineer Jim VanDyne.  “Since the highway’s narrow there and it has a minimal shoulder area, it’s not possible to have even one lane open to traffic.”

If additional work is required or weather impacts the schedule, the closure could continue into the following week.  The detour would resume on Monday night, May 9, and continue for another night or two.

CDOT is replacing the expansion joints as part of a bridge improvement project.  Since expansion joints allow bridges to expand and contract, and avoid structural damage, replacing the joints periodically can extend the life of a bridge several years.

Along with the bridge work, the project also includes paving I-70 between the top of Floyd Hill and the east portal of the Twin Tunnels this summer.

Weekly lane closure information about this and other projects will be available at www.coloradodot.info/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html or by calling 511.  To receive project updates via e-mail, visit www.coloradodot.info and click on the cell-phone icon in the upper right-hand corner.  The link takes you to a list of items you can subscribe to, including I-70 West, Denver to Glenwood Springs.