Glenwood Canyon Tunnel Damage/Construction

[Packman5280]

Hey guys, not sure if you heard of this or not, but i guess one of the tunnels in Glenwood canyon is breaking, so they have a 12.5 mile stretch of road closed. They are diverting all traffic on to one side, so it is two lanes and slow going. Not sure how that affects the caravan, but my parents said we may want to leave earlier than we were planning, just to avoid any delays.

what's everyone think? anyone driven this stretch lately? Ryan, what say you give me a call on saturday after you go through that area and let me know how it is?

[Alpine Spirit]

Hmmmmm..........

That kinda sucks there is not exactly a way around that area unless we take a longer route down through Twin Lakes and over Independence Pass (I think it is open by then).

But if it is 2 lanes constant then I would still go I-70 and leave a tad earlier and expect an 30-45 min delay.

[Packman5280]

that's what i was thinking too. hopefully it isn't stopped completely, just delays

[Eric P]

only 2.5 miles will be head to head traffic from the tunnel. A second area unrelated to the tunnel should be finished by mid May, or the contractor will be hit with heavy penalties.

[Allen Cox]

I helped to build those tunnels. Well, I was a flagger when they were pouring the concrete. I knew several of the tilers too.

What happened up there?

[Eric P]

Remember the rock slide that closed the canyon? Well that damaged one of the monitoring rooms in the tunnels. They need to close one of the tunnels to gain acces to the room.

Denver Post article:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5620083?source=rss

Indepenence Pass is a 100 mile detour. I think staying in the canyon for 2.5 miles will be far faster. Maybe we should caravan from Fairplay?

[Eric P]

only 2.5 miles will be head to head traffic from the tunnel. A second area unrelated to the tunnel should be finished by mid May, or the contractor will be hit with heavy penalties.

It looks like they changed the schedule for the repaving.
From the handy CDOT site:
Resurfacing of I-70 eastbound lanes between No-Name and Grizzly Creek (west Glenwood Canyon ) will begin in early May and be completed before July 4, 2007. All traffic—one lane of eastbound, one lane of westbound—will be placed in the westbound lanes, with crossovers at the No-Name (milepost 117) and Hanging Lake (milepost 126) tunnels. This configuration will be in place 24/7. More specific project schedule information will be provided closer to the start date. (Access to the Hanging Lake trailhead, Shoshone Power Plant and all rest areas will remain open, though some exit ramps will be closed. Further details will be posted.)

So that is 9 miles of head to head traffic for the goneMOAB caravan. The repaving project will be replacing the asphalt bridge decks with a high performance concrete (that I helped write the design standards for).

[Lance T]

I drove west on Thursday...no delays. Drove east yesterday with EJS traffic...no big delay either.

[JayRyan]

I drove East Sunday evening from Moab- no delays.

[Packman5280]

good times, shouldn't be too much of a problem it sounds like.