I-70 Glenwood Canyon Colorado fire closure
I-70 through Glenwood Canyon has been closed due to a wildfire near the Grizzly Creek Rest Area. This fire started a couple of days ago and has really blown up due to high temps and swirling winds. It quickly moved up the north side of the canyon and is threatening the little community of No Name. The fire has jumped the river and is also burning on the south side of the canyon.
The closed the highway through the canyon initially due to fire, but now they also need to assess the damage to the bridges along the highway.
The way the fire is so actively burning, I personally don't foresee the road opening in at least a week. There's no rain in the forecast and it's supposed to be hot, dry, and windy. I saw a humidity of 4% at our house yesterday.
Unfortunately, there's no easy go around. Cottonwood Pass, a dirt road between Gypsum and CO 82 south of Glenwood Springs is closed. First a semi overturned up there (not a road for semi's anyway) and now the fire is burning in that direction. Independence Pass southeast out of Aspen is also closed. Even though there are multiple signs indicating a maximum length of 35', numerous trucks tried to go through. Finally they just had to close if for safeties sake.
The detour on CDOT's website is to use US 50 out of Montrose over Monarch Pass then up US 285 into Denver. One can also go north on US 40 over Rabbit Ears Pass, through Craig and eventually down to Rifle, but there's construction on CO 13 so this is an even longer detour.
I would imagine both of these detours are pretty busy as I-70 carries a fair amount of traffic that will now have to fit on two lane roads in many places.
If you're expecting to travel in this area in the next couple of weeks, keep up to date at cotrip.org
The closed the highway through the canyon initially due to fire, but now they also need to assess the damage to the bridges along the highway.
The way the fire is so actively burning, I personally don't foresee the road opening in at least a week. There's no rain in the forecast and it's supposed to be hot, dry, and windy. I saw a humidity of 4% at our house yesterday.
Unfortunately, there's no easy go around. Cottonwood Pass, a dirt road between Gypsum and CO 82 south of Glenwood Springs is closed. First a semi overturned up there (not a road for semi's anyway) and now the fire is burning in that direction. Independence Pass southeast out of Aspen is also closed. Even though there are multiple signs indicating a maximum length of 35', numerous trucks tried to go through. Finally they just had to close if for safeties sake.
The detour on CDOT's website is to use US 50 out of Montrose over Monarch Pass then up US 285 into Denver. One can also go north on US 40 over Rabbit Ears Pass, through Craig and eventually down to Rifle, but there's construction on CO 13 so this is an even longer detour.
I would imagine both of these detours are pretty busy as I-70 carries a fair amount of traffic that will now have to fit on two lane roads in many places.
If you're expecting to travel in this area in the next couple of weeks, keep up to date at cotrip.org
