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An Upcoming Interstate Facelift — And How It Might Help With Colorado's Traffic Woes

An Upcoming Interstate Facelift — And How It Might Help With Colorado's Traffic Woes

Huge Facelift Coming to Colorado's Main Ski Highway

August 21, 2023

Interstate 70’s Upcoming Facelift — Will It Help With Colorado's Ski Traffic Woes? (Vol. 3)

Welcome to the latest PeakRankings newsletter! In this series, we round up the best news and deals from the ski industry.

The Scoop 👓

Colorado’s Interstate 70 is getting a much needed makeover. As peak traffic has increased more and more every year (corresponding with record resort visitation), the state has announced plans to completely redesign eight mountainous miles of its roadway between Denver and the popular Front Range ski resorts.

So will this initiative completely eliminate Colorado’s ski resort traffic? Probably not, but the project should bring more benefits than meet the eye—at least when it’s finished.

A view of the section of I-70 in question on Google Street view.

The Cause 💥

When it reaches Floyd Hill in the westbound (mountain-bound) direction, Interstate 70 experiences an almost comical number of circumstances that make the road both difficult and dangerous to drive on. First off, the road narrows from three lanes to two—and then it immediately takes on a steep, downhill gradient followed by a tight corner. Even absent the large amount of traffic on the road during weekends and holidays, the poor road design results in lots of backups and accident-prone conditions. This section of road in the eastbound (Denver-bound) direction goes uphill and maintains three lanes throughout, but it still involves the same curvy topography as the westbound direction.

But the Floyd Hill area isn’t the only pain point on this road 🤕 I-70 merges with US 6 immediately west of the large downgrade, and the intersected highways have no service alternative for about two miles, turning the road, especially in the westbound direction, into even more of a chokepoint.

The Solution 🛠

The Colorado Department of Transportation is taking a wrecking ball to the current setup and completely rebuilding the aforementioned eight-mile section of highway. Well, actually, not exactly…the state has a plan in the works to build the new section on top of (or, in certain places, next to) the outgoing road, with the intention of keeping traffic flowing as smoothly as possible during construction.

And it’s a good thing that CDOT is keeping traffic in mind, as this project isn’t expected to wrap up until fall 2027 🚧

The CDOT website features this render of the redesigned Interstate 70 / US 6 interchange.

What This Means For You—If You Ski/Ride Almost Any Colorado Resort 🎿

Getting to nearly every major Colorado ski resort from Denver—including Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone, and Copper—involves taking this section of I-70 that will soon be under construction.

Visitors can expect relief in the medium/long-term, but the next few seasons will involve construction along the road, which may impact traffic 🚗 CDOT says they plan to keep traffic disruptions to a minimum, but it seems that there will at least be lane shifts and off-peak/overnight closures for this four-year period.

Any questions/thoughts? Respond to this email and we’ll get back to you!