NEW CASTLE, Colo. — Interstate 70 in Garfield County fully reopened Thursday morning after a massive mudslide buried the highway in mud, debris and what CDOT described as ‘a lake’s worth of water.’
The slide occurred around 7 p.m. Monday, pushing mud, rocks, logs and other debris onto both directions of I-70 and U.S. 6 near New Castle. No injuries were reported.
CDOT said the mudslide covered more than 300 yards of I-70 and reached about 7 feet deep at the roadway’s lowest point, forcing a nearly three-day closure of the corridor and sending drivers onto detours.
The deluge impacted other parts of the county as well. The Sheriff's Office said flash flooding closed at least two nearby county roads.
The flooding came after heavy rain and hail overwhelmed the drought-stricken ground, sending water into irrigation ditches and roadway drainage systems, CDOT said in a news release.
Drought conditions can bake the soil, making it water-repellent rather than allowing it to absorb rainwater.
Garfield County and the surrounding region have been experiencing exceptional drought conditions most of the season, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“This was a massive undertaking that required a high level of coordination and movement of people, equipment and material in a short period of time,” CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew said in a statement.
CDOT said crews used an excavator, front-end loader, vacuum trucks, six plows, two street sweepers and other support vehicles, with at least a dozen workers on each 12-hour shift, reopening limited traffic Wednesday before restoring all lanes early Thursday.
“This clean-up project was not just as simple as pulling the drain plug from your bathtub,” Regional Transportation Director Jason Smith said in a statement. “Moving a lake’s worth of water and tons of debris took significant work.”
The I-70 corridor, particularly through Glenwood Canyon, has a long history of mudslides and closures.
Several years ago, slides from the Grizzly Creek burn scar repeatedly forced CDOT to close the interstate through the canyon, sometimes trapping drivers until they could be rescued.
CDOT said crews will continue removing debris, and drivers are urged to slow down and use caution in the area.
