Editor’s note: The section of Interstate 70 opened about 9 a.m. Friday to commercial vehicles.
Interstate 70 will be closed to commercial vehicles between Eagle and Morrison through Friday as heavy snow continues to fall along the major highway making for treacherous driving conditions.
The 90-mile closure, between mile marker 169 through mile marker 259, will be in effect until Friday, the Colorado Department of Transportation said just before 1 p.m. Thursday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The closure comes as “a couple hundred vehicles” remained stranded on I-70, including a ski bus full of 50 women who ran out of food and water after being stuck for 16 hours. The ski bus has since started moving.
The strong storm brought one of Colorado’s most busy roads to a standstill. In March, more than 38,000 vehicles on average drive through the Eisenhower tunnel along I-70, according to CDOT data.
There are numerous road closures along mountain roads and travelers can check cotrip.org for the latest updates.
CDOT has 38 plows along the I-70 mountains from Morrison to the Eisenhower tunnel that are “plowing around the clock,” but stuck semitrucks, many which did not have chains, are thwarting their efforts, said Stacia Sellers, a spokesperson for the department.
“Our biggest challenge right now is the number of stuck semitrucks that are on the interstate. We’ve seen countless semis that were not chained up, despite the chain law. It makes it almost impossible for our crews to plow the highways,” Sellers said.
CDOT is towing out semitrucks, taking about 30 minutes per trailer, she said.