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.