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Guided Pilot Car On I-70 Through Glenwood Canyon To Begin This Weekend

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - This week's full closure of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon due to rock slides will continue into the weekend. Repairs to I-70 and rockfall mitigation will cost between $2 to $5 million with no time given for completion.

Officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation said on Friday afternoon they don't expect to allow any vehicles through the canyon until noon on Saturday at the earliest and possibly Sunday. Even then it will be limited traffic with significant delays of more than an hour as the pilot car leads vehicles through the area one lane at a time.

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The highway has been closed to traffic from Glenwood Springs to Dotsero since late Monday night, when there were two large rock slides that damaged the highway. Since then, extensive work has been done by CDOT crews on the canyon walls to try to prevent more slides.

Overnight Thursday into Friday morning crews brought down additional rock, between 50-60 cubic feet scaled by CDOT crews.

Amy Ford with CDOT said on Friday afternoon that the weather did not cooperate with repairs bringing rain and hailstorms that hampered progress. It was a continuation of delays that began on Thursday with foggy conditions, rain and snow.

Glenwood Canyon Rock Slide (1)
(credit: CBS)

A helicopter that had been helping to mitigate the rock danger on Tuesday and Wednesday was unable to fly on Thursday.

"The inclement weather resulted in about three additional hours of rock scaling work for our crews this morning," said CDOT Region 3 Transportation Director David Eller in a statement. "Fortunately, the weather was clear today and crews benefited from the ability to fly tools and materials up to the work site with a helicopter."

When CDOT opens the highway, hopefully mid-day on Saturday or possibly Sunday, only one lane will be open. Vehicles will be guided by a pilot car back and forth through the canyon in single file along one eastbound lane of I-70. That could add up to delays of more than an hour.

It's unclear exactly when more lanes will be opened through the canyon. Ford said the work will be similar to other rockfall mitigation projects with scaling and rock work.

"The biggest news for drivers planning for weekend travel is that they will be taking detours going from the Western Slope back and forth, taking that north and south detour," said Ford.

Glenwood Canyon Rock Slide (2)
(credit: CBS)

Ford said once the geohazards team comes off the mountain on Friday evening they will have more information to determine a reopen time frame for I-70 and whether the rock wall is stable.

The roadway suffered significant damage to the cantilever walls, some rocks punched through the roadway and there was also surface damage.

Once initial repairs are made and the rocks are stabilized, crews will work on a more permanent solution. Ford said that includes additional fencing, conditions of the rock higher up the mountain and a permanent stabilization of rock to the area to prevent future rockfalls that cause significant damage.

CDOT officials are assessing whether they'll ask for federal disaster assistance funds to help cover the cost.

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CDOT has designated two detour routes for drivers, one to the north through Wolcott, and another to the south over Monarch Pass and through Gunnison. Both will take about the same time.

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