Transportation
I-70 at Floyd Hill closes overnight Oct. 18-20 as traffic shifts onto the new Clear Creek bridge
Eastbound traffic moves onto a newly completed bridge over Clear Creek on Sunday night, and westbound lanes close two more nights while crews grout the segmental bridge overhead.
IDAHO SPRINGS
Drivers headed through the mountains next weekend should plan around three nights of full closures on Interstate 70 at Floyd Hill. The Colorado Department of Transportation announced that eastbound I-70 will close overnight on Sunday, Oct. 18, and westbound I-70 will close overnight on Monday, Oct. 19, and Tuesday, Oct. 20, as major bridge work advances on the Floyd Hill project in Clear Creek County.
The eastbound closure runs from 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, between eastern Idaho Springs (Exit 241) and Hidden Valley/Central City Parkway (Exit 243). Crews will use the closure to shift eastbound traffic north onto the newly completed bridge over Clear Creek, opening up new areas for construction between the Veterans Memorial Tunnels and Hidden Valley. Eastbound drivers will merge into one lane, exit at Idaho Springs (Exit 241), and travel east on County Road 314 to rejoin I-70 at Hidden Valley (Exit 243).
The eastbound off-ramp to Hidden Valley/Central City Parkway (Exit 243) will stay closed far longer, from 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, through 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, while crews tie the ramp into the new alignment. Drivers bound for Hidden Valley should use the Exit 241 off-ramp and County Road 314, the same detour as the overnight closure.
Westbound I-70 will close at U.S. 6 (Exit 244) from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on both Monday, Oct. 19, and Tuesday, Oct. 20. The closure lets crews grout the tendons on the concrete segmental bridge, known as the Live Lift, that is being built over the westbound lanes near U.S. 6. CDOT describes the grouting as a protective seal for the bridge that provides a longer lifespan and a smoother ride when it opens. Westbound drivers will merge into one lane and use the U.S. 6 off-ramp and on-ramp at Exit 244 to continue west.
All of the work is weather dependent. If weather or other unforeseen circumstances intervene, CDOT says the eastbound closure would move to the night of Sunday, Oct. 25, the extended Exit 243 ramp closure would run Oct. 25-30, and the westbound closures would shift to Monday, Oct. 26, and Tuesday, Oct. 27. Drivers can sign up for project text alerts by texting floydhill to 21000, and CDOT urges travelers to check current road conditions before making the drive.
The closures are one step in a much larger rebuild. The Floyd Hill project improves eight miles of the I-70 mountain corridor from west of Evergreen to eastern Idaho Springs, a $905 million effort, according to the Denver Focal. Its centerpiece additions are a third westbound travel lane that will operate as an Express Lane through the current two-lane bottleneck, a missing two-mile section of frontage road between Evergreen and Idaho Springs, an extended eastbound on-ramp for slow-moving vehicles, improved interchanges, better sight distance on curves, Clear Creek Greenway trail improvements and safer wildlife crossings.
Construction on the project began in July 2023. After next week's work, crews will continue pouring concrete to build the segmental bridge outward over I-70 and will begin bridge construction on the existing eastbound and westbound lanes west of Hidden Valley. I-70 is expected to be in its new alignment in 2028, with the entire project concluding in 2029. More overnight closures in both directions are expected from mid-November through mid-December as segmental bridge construction continues.
