When Interstate 70’s heavy morning traffic into the mountains stretched into the afternoon, CDOT expected major problems on the Sunday-Monday return drive from the popular holiday skiing weekend. But perhaps in part because of those warnings, the problems didn’t occur.

Three West Slope transportation projects are going forward with new funding from revenues the state gets from commercial leases of federal lands for energy production. Road projects in Parachute, Grand Junction and Delta are sharing a $17 million pool of federal mineral leasing funds with a fourth project that will extend broadband communications lines in southwest Colorado.

Starting at midnight on Friday night, weather permitting, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will completely close the ramp from eastbound I-270 to I-70 for paving operations. The ramp will reopen by 5:30 a.m. on Monday.

The Colorado Department of Transportation has put 40 highway and airport projects totaling $136.8 million on its wish list for federal grants in 2011.

The Summit Daily News reports that the Colorado Department of Transportation plans to install at least 10 more cameras along the Interstate 70 mountain corridor in the coming months.

The road cameras, available through www.cotrip.org and www.goi70.com as well as a local television station, offer viewers glimpses of traffic and road conditions.

The new cameras are to be installed between Frisco and Vail, as fiber optics over the pass have been extended, said Rodrick Mead, operations manager with Colorado Transportation Management Center.

Go to the Summit Daily News to see the entire article.

The Summit County Citizens Voice reports that Colorado Department of Transportation officials have told Summit County commissioners that traffic stops at the Eisenhower Tunnel are for the safety of motorists, which is CDOT’s top priority.

CDOT Traffic Alert

Clear Creek County – The Colorado Department of Transportation will be stopping traffic in both directions of I-70 for 20 minutes at a time this week for rock-scaling operations at Georgetown Hill. Traffic will be stopped on I-70 westbound at Georgetown and eastbound at Silver Plume between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Tuesday though Thursday (February 5-7). Please note, traffic may be held for up to 20 minutes at a time.

Motorists should expect delays during this time period and are encouraged to plan accordingly. CDOT apologizes for any inconvenience caused by this important safety project.

CDOT Press Release

Starting at 5 a.m. on Saturday, January 16th, weather permitting, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) will completely close the ramp from eastbound I-270 to I-70 for bridge deck rehabilitation. The ramp will be closed until 5:30 a.m. on Monday, January 18th so crews can rotomill the entire bridge deck and pave in concrete.

“The bridge deck at this location is in very poor condition causing many potholes to form,” said CDOT Project Engineer Steve Pineiro. “While the weekend closure will be an inconvenience to motorists, the end result will be a huge benefit as the concrete work will greatly improve the condition of the roadway. The concrete work will then be followed up with asphalt paving in the spring.”

Throughout the weekend, motorists will exit eastbound I-270 at Quebec Street and take Quebec Street south to I-70. Major delays are expected and alternate routes are strongly advised. The ramp will completely reopen by 5:30 a.m. on Monday, January 18th.

This weekend’s work is part of a project that rehabilitates two other bridge decks in the Denver metro area: eastbound I-70 over 20th Avenue and eastbound I-70 over the Union Pacific Railroad between Monaco Street Quebec Street.

Jalisco International, Inc. is the contractor of this $772,000 project. The entire project should be complete by the end of June 2010.

Image from Google Earth looks east up the Straight Creek valley from over Silverthorne toward the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel complex. This is the grade where traffic was stopped seven times on Saturday.

Motorists crossing the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70 may soon be getting more specific warnings about tunnel closures during heavy traffic, following Saturday’s record three hours of traffic stops to keep idling cars out of the tunnel.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is coming up with different wording for the overhead lighted signs called Variable Message Signs that would make drivers more aware that they might have to come to a stop on the highway while traffic jams ahead clear up.

When CDOT needs to shut off traffic flow through the tunnel, the message boards will be modified to say something like “20 minute traffic stops at tunnel; 4 hours+ to Denver,” said CDOT spokesman Bob Wilson.

The east portals of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70.

Blowing snow and resulting traffic backups on Interstate 70 on Saturday prompted seven separate stoppages totaling three hours at the westbound entrance to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels under the Continental Divide.

It brought an avalanche of driver complaints and a review by the Colorado Department of Transportation of the messages it puts on its electronic signs.

But don’t expect the practice of halting traffic to end. It’s all about your safety.

“It’s very much to assure ourselves that we can respond to an emergency in there,” said Mike Salamon, CDOT’s superintendent at the tunnel. The 1.7-mile, two-lane bores have no shoulders and no way for emergency vehicles to maneuver around stopped cars. “How could anybody ever explain watching a ski bus burn in there and we couldn’t get to it? When traffic starts to fill up to about half the tunnel, we shut it down.”