GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) – Since Saturday, Colorado Department of Transportation crews have been working around the clock to clear the debris flow from Interstate 70, but the consistency of the slide was making efforts difficult.
(credit: CDOT)
“It looks like real watery muddy ash,” said Chuck Decker, the highway maintenance supervisor for CDOT. “It’s so watery it’s just hard to move, you know? And there’s so much of it you know ?We can only get so many trucks and so many loaders in the narrow part of the canyon. We probably have 10 to 15 trucks running right now and three loaders.”
As Decker and his team began clearing Saturday’s debris which blocked lanes, a second, larger slide came down Sunday blocking both lanes.
“The challenge is not really being able to judge for sure how much mud and debris is in there until you get into it, and then as you move it, it keeps coming down the slopes,” he said.
(credit: Christopher Johnson)
Decker said the debris field from Sunday covered all four lanes of traffic and was about 100 feet long and around four to five feet deep. Thanks to the long hours pulled by crews, CDOT had the eastbound lanes open by late Monday afternoon and westbound lanes opened just before 6 p.m.
Some anxious travelers opted not to wait, and against CDOT’s recommendations, took alternative “shortcuts.”
READ MORE: VIDEO: Rafters Witness Massive Mudslide Cascading Onto I-70 In Glenwood Canyon“I thought ‘oh it’s a lot faster to go this way.’ Big mistake,” said Tom Michael.
Michael was able to laugh at himself once through Cottonwood Pass, but after hauling a moving trailer and his family through the narrow dirt road, he’s just glad he’s still happily married.
(credit: CDOT)
“Not as happily as before maybe, my wife’s a little mad at me for as fast as we were trying to get through there,” he joked. “Even if it’s longer, I would’ve definitely taken another four hours not to have to drive that.”
With more wet weather on the way, CDOT says motorists should be prepared for more closures and as Michael learned, GPS doesn’t always point you in the best direction.
“It can only take so much saturation and pretty soon it comes to a point where it can’t hold, and down it comes,” said Decker.
Follow all of CDOT’s updates on road closures.
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June 29, 2021 at 09:06AM
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‘Hard To Move’: Watery Mudslide In Glenwood Canyon Makes Cleanup Efforts Difficult - CBS Denver
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