GEORGETOWN, Colo. — Georgetown was forced to temporarily close to visitors Saturday afternoon as overwhelming fall foliage traffic created gridlock conditions throughout the mountain town.
For about an hour and a half Saturday afternoon, Clear Creek Sheriff's deputies turned away traffic from Interstate 70 and Highway 285 heading to Georgetown. Only residents with valid identification were allowed to enter the town during the closure.
Gary Wilkins, a long-time Georgetown resident, watched as cars pass by his home each fall as visitors search for golden aspen leaves. This weekend, however, the typical autumn rush became unmanageable.
"Wasn't moving. It was gridlock," said Wilkins. "I think that's probably the best way to describe it."
The traffic situation was further complicated by an equipment failure at one of Xcel Energy's substations, which shut off power for more than 2,200 customers in the Georgetown area Saturday.
The outage forced some restaurants to close for several hours, leaving hungry leaf peepers with nowhere to eat.
Denver7 met Devon Parish and his family, who encountered the roadblock during their leaf-peeping adventure and were initially turned away.
"It was disappointing because my four kids were, they were like, 'Whoa, what are we gonna have to go back through? Are we gonna go home now?'" Parish said.
The family decided to turn back to Bailey for lunch and wait for the town to reopen to traffic.
"We came back through, and it was, it was worth every second of the wait, honestly," Parish said.
Later in the afternoon, traffic conditions improved and power was restored to all customers.
But residents like Wilkins know the fall frenzy is far from over.
"It's not over yet," Wilkins said.
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