The surge of a winter storm has swiftly transformed travel into a game of stop-and-go along Colorado’s Interstate 70 this Presidents’ Day weekend. Multiple crashes and hazardous driving conditions triggered a series of road closures and heavy traffic, especially around Silverthorne and Summit County. Authorities have been working to manage the chaos on the roads amidst the snowy backdrop, according to KDVR.
Driving conditions took a turn for the dangerous on Friday with several crashes and slide-offs that prompted intermittent closures. Colorado State Patrol had warned motorists to anticipate these closures to persist throughout the storm’s duration. Officials aimed to quickly clear and reopen I-70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel after it witnessed multiple incidents, as stated by KDVR, and following the re-openings, westbound traffic appeared to move, albeit eastbound remained a slow crawl.
As detailed by KKCO 11 News, after a sequence of openings and closings, all eastbound and westbound lanes had eventually been reopened. However, safety concerns precipitated the reinstitution of a westbound closure between Exits 205 and 203 in Silverthorne. In the Eagle-Vail area, a collision at Mile Point 170 forced the closure of the right eastbound lane, leading to a significant delay for commuters.
In the late evening hours, Summit Daily News reported that while I-70 was open with heavy traffic near Silverthorne and northern Summit County, another disruption came when a crash on Colorado Highway 9 near Hoosier Pass halted traffic on the southern end. The roadways finally cleared by 11:59 p.m. Moreover, images of semi trucks without chains, despite traction and chain laws, circulated online, spotlighting the vehicles that had jackknifed or slid off the road, contributing to lengthy delays.