CDOT Hosts Telephone Town Hall Meeting for I-70 Twin Tunnels Project

March 8, 2013 - Central Eastern Colorado/CDOT Region 1 - DENVER – On Wednesday, March 13, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will host a telephone town hall meeting at 7 p.m. to allow residents and travelers to learn more about the widening project on eastbound I-70 at Idaho Springs, which includes widening the eastbound bore of the Twin Tunnels.

“Given the complexity of these construction operations and the critical role the I-70 mountain corridor plays in the state’s transportation system, we are offering a wide variety of tools, including the telephone town hall meeting, to help keep motorists informed throughout the project,” said CDOT I-70 West Corridor Manager Jim Bemelen. “This telephone town hall meeting is a great opportunity for residents and travelers to learn more about the project, the benefits and the construction impacts and we strongly encourage folks to call into the meeting."

The town hall meeting will last for one hour and includes a panel of CDOT, construction and elected official representatives to address every aspect of the project. Along with learning about the project from the panelists, town hall participants will have the opportunity to answer periodic polling questions using their phone keypad and ask questions of the panelists.

Anyone can participate in the town hall, but registered voters who live in Clear Creek, Summit or Grand counties and have a listed phone number will receive a call directly at 7 p.m. asking if they want to participate. Anyone who does not live in one of these counties or who does not receive a call can take part by calling 877-229-8493 at 7 p.m. and entering access number 111457.

An audio file of the town hall will be posted in late March to www.coloradodot.info/projects/i70twintunnels for those who are unable to participate.
Major work is scheduled to begin in April once eastbound I-70 is placed on the frontage road to allow crews to begin the widening of the eastbound I-70 Twin Tunnels bore as well as the rest of I-70 between East Idaho Springs and US 6. To complete the work, blasting of the rock in the eastbound tunnel bore is required and will result in periodic 30-minute traffic stops throughout the summer.

Kraemer-Obayashi is the contractor/design team for the $106 million project. Eastbound I-70 will reopen to traffic with all three lanes operational by late 2013. Minor work will continue into next year with the entire project scheduled to be complete in spring 2014.

For additional project information, visit the project website at www.coloradodot.info/projects/i70twintunnels. Once on the site, you can sign up for email alerts specific to the project. For the daily blasting schedule, call 511, visitwww.cotrip.org or download the CDOT smartphone mobile application from your App store.