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Expect A Lot Of Traffic, Delays Over MLK Holiday Weekend

By Lauren DiSpirito

DENVER (CBS4)- As avalanche danger persists in the high country, more snow is forecast for much of the mountains, and travelers prepare to hit the road for Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, this weekend has the potential to deliver both perfect powder skiing condition and terrible traffic delays.

While only moderate snow is expected along the Interstate 70 corridor, the Colorado Department of Transportation says avalanche mitigation work could cause some delays.

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Traffic on I-70 (credit: CBS)

CDOT spokeswoman Amy Ford indicates it could be a record year for annual MLK weekend traffic, with more than 40,000 vehicles expected to drive the tunnel each day. CDOT is urging driving to be patient and plan ahead. Travelers near Crested Butte and along Wolf Creek Pass could especially, where the heaviest snow is forecast, are the most likely of drivers to be impacted by avalanche mitigation, she said.

Heading to Keystone for the holiday, Tanja Slack, her daughter Hannah, and their friend Allison Forsman decided to start their trip Friday afternoon.

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(credit: CBS)

"We're not going to go over the pass, we're just going to go on in through Silverthorne and go on up that way," Slack said, "so I think we'll be safe."

As scenes of Colorado's persistent snowfall this week spread online, the travel website Expedia reported a ten-fold jump in searches for popular ski resorts, like Breckenridge and Aspen, according to company spokesperson Keith Nowak.

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(credit: CBS)

And potential visitors are not just looking, they are booking.

According to Ralf Garrison, director of Denver-based DestiMetrics, LLC, mountain hotel occupancy rates are up between two to four percent this MLK weekend over last year. So far this month, Garrison says high country resort lodging bookings are up four percent over last year and overall revenue generated from those stays is up 10 percent over the same time last year. His data reflects the number of out-of-state visitors, rather than single-day visitors, coming to Colorado's ski resorts.

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I-70 (credit: CBS)

So much snow could make getting to the mountains inconvenient for both out-of-state and local travelers.

"We were making the last minute decision of whether we should go or should not, and we decided since we got chains, we could do it," said Stephanie Schmidt, before she departed Denver for a weekend of snowshoeing in the mountains.

"We're not too worried yet," added Todd Reibold, regarding expected traffic.

"We don't have a deadline of when we need to be there so we'll just go with traffic I guess," Schmidt said.

Lauren DiSpirito reports for CBS4 News at 10 p.m. She covers breaking news and feature stories along Colorado's Front Range. Follow her on Twitter @CBS4Lauren. Share your story ideas with her here.

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