As Predicted, I-70 Commute Down The Mountains Was Brutal
GENESEE, Colo. (CBS4) - People trying to get back to the Denver metro area from the mountains experienced major delays on Sunday.
The Colorado Department of Transportation says there are bad two seasons on Interstate 70 in the mountains -- winter and the Fourth of July.
Early Sunday CDOT said the one hour journey from Frisco to C-470 was taking about one hour and 40 minutes.
There was a lot of traffic heading west on both Thursday and the Fourth of July holiday. There were major delays as thousands of people headed to the high country to celebrate the holiday. CDOT says it's just a case of too much volume -- too many vehicles headed to the same place in a short amount of time.
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CDOT said it would not meter the traffic at the on-ramp in Silverthorne heading into the Eisenhower Tunnel. In other words, they will not hold up traffic for a few extra seconds for cars getting on the highway.
Sunday morning heading east, CDOT saw roughly 2,700 vehicles getting through the east portal at the Eisenhower Tunnel. In the winter it's less than 2,000, but of course the road was dry on Sunday.
At 5 p.m. traffic was still very heavy but it should ease as the evening progresses.
LINK: Traffic Section
