Eisenhower Tunnel Closure Next Week

October 6, 2011 - Central Eastern Colorado/CDOT Region 1 - CLEAR CREEK/SUMMIT COUNTIES – The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is closing westbound Interstate 70 through the Eisenhower Tunnel Wednesday night for ventilation maintenance and testing.

Operations begin at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, October 12, requiring all westbound traffic to exit I-70 and use U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass, returning to I-70 at Silverthorne. Testing is expected to take approximately four hours, with westbound I-70 reopening through the tunnel around 2 a.m. on Thursday, October 13.

“To correctly test the ventilation system, we can’t have air turbulence in the tunnel, which occurs when vehicles are moving through it,” said CDOT Resident Engineer Grant Anderson. “We’ll also need to have some equipment on the roadway at times so removing traffic enhances safety while we’re testing.”

If adverse weather is expected to impact travel over Loveland Pass, CDOT will reschedule the testing for the following night during the same hours and distribute an updated advisory.

Traffic information about this or other CDOT projects is on the cotrip.org website 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.