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Location: Western Slope > Central Mountains > Metro
Denver > Eastern Plains
Length*: 449.59mi
W End: Utah
border west of Grand Junction
E End: Kansas
border east of Burlington (link to Richie Kennedy's site)
Nationally: W End: Jct I-15 at Fort Cove, Utah; E End:
Baltimore, Maryland (2175mi)
Counties: Mesa, Garfield, Eagle, Summit, Clear Creek,
Jefferson, Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Elbert, Lincoln, Kit Carson
Places: Fruita, Grand Junction, DeBeque Canyon, DeBeque, Parachute,
Rifle, Silt, New Castle, Glenwood Springs, Glenwood Canyon, Gypsum,
Eagle, Edwards, Avon, Vail, Vail Pass, Frisco, Silverthorne, Dillon,
Eisenhower Tunnel, Silver Plume, Georgetown, Idaho Springs, Mount
Vernon Canyon, Wheat Ridge, Denver, Aurora, Byers, Deer Trail, Limon,
Genoa, Arriba, Flagler, Seibert, Vona, Bethune, Burlington
NHS: All Interstates are by default part of the NHS.
Freeway: Entire length (exit lists).
Mountain Passes: West of Frisco, Vail Pass (10,666ft; 7% grade).
Memorial Designations:
Scenic & Historic Byways:
Milepost Guide:
Annual Average Daily Traffic (2008):
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Guide
Glenwood Canyon
Glenwood Canyon is a famous stretch of I-70 east of Glenwood Springs.
I have created a separate site for it: Glenwood
Canyon - An I-70 Odyssey.
Continental Divide/Eisenhower Tunnel
I-70 goes through the Dwight Eisenhower-Edwin Johnson Tunnel, passing
under the Continental Divide. A quick note: It may be the
Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel, but it's usually shortened to just
"Eisenhower Tunnel".
The tunnel consists of two separate bores, each two lanes wide.
Their length is about 1.7 miles. The first bore built was the
westbound bore. It is 8,941 feet (1.69mi) long, with a height of 48
feet and a width of 40 feet. The huge exhaust and fresh air ducts
bring the roadway's height down to 16'-4", with two 13-foot driving
lanes and a 2'-5" walkway. The bores' height clearance (with
changeable message signs hanging down from the ceiling) is only
13'-11", so if a truck is over that it has to use Loveland Pass.
Prior to November 2007, the height clearance was only 13'-6".
Electronic sensors on the approach to the tunnel trip an alarm and turn
traffic signals red to stop traffic whenever an overheight truck is
detected so the truck can be routed off the highway. Since the standard
truck trailer height is 13'-6", when the height clearance was still
13'-6" any snow buildup on trailers in the winter led to overheight
alarms. The sensors were being tripped about 10,000 times a year. So,
with some changes to lighting and signage, CDOT was able to raise the
clearance to 13'-11".
The ventilation of the westbound tunnel is done with eight fresh air fans, which can each move 533,000 cubic feet per minute, while eight exhaust fans can each move 542,000 cubic feet. per minute. Any serious deviation from these norms alert the attendants. Two fans are normally on standby. Reserve power is available if there is a power outage.
Mike Ballard and I had an email exchange once, and we concluded that the Eisenhower Tunnel is the highest part of any Interstate Highway in the US. It's probably also the highest vehicular tunnel in the world. The official elevations are 11,013 at the east portal, 11,112 at the midway point, and 11,158 at the west portal.
The two approaches from each direction to the tunnel are pretty steep. Coming down the west side, there is a 30 mph speed limit for "Trucks Over 30,000 GVW". There are also two runaway ramps. There are three lanes in each direction on the west side, but only two on the east side. No runaway ramps downhill on the east side, either.
Go to the Photo Gallery below for several pictures around the Eisenhower Tunnel.
The Construction of the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel
Most of I-70 was completed in the 1960s. Holding things up was the
blasting and burrowing for the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel. The tunnel
was to be above Bakerville and go under the Continental Divide
between Clear Creek and Straight Creek canyons. The current westbound
bore would be built first.
The low bid, opened on October 3, 1967, was $54.1M by Al Johnson Construction Co., Minneapolis, Gibbons and Reed Co., Salt Lake City, Western Paving Construction Co., Denver, and Kemper Construction Co., Los Angeles. The joint venture between these companies adopted the name Straight Creek Contractors for operations at the tunnel. Steel arrived onsite on January 22, 1968, and actual mining began on the west portal on March 13, 1968. A ceremony was held March 15. By October 24, 1968, the contractor had completed the top heading (horseshoe-shaped part) to the midway point. On December 1, they began to excavate down for the bench (rectangular-shaped part), and had completed the western half of the bore by May 27, 1969. Excavation for the heading started at the east portal on December 11, 1968, and work on the west ventilation building was started. The full top heading was pushed through on February 29, 1972, and the bench was completed July 21, 1972.
Cost of work done by Straight Creek Contractors on the westbound bore totaled $109M.
The westbound tunnel opened to two-way traffic at noon on March 8, 1973, with Governor John Love emceeing. Traffic counts quickly reached an average of 8,479 vehicles per day. On busy Sunday evenings, gridlock ensued as eastbound traffic squeezed from two lanes to one at the tunnel. CDH then in 1974 made the tunnel's two lanes eastbound only, and routed westbound traffic over Loveland Pass. This practice was abandoned when the second bore opened.
Designers began work on the eastbound bore in 1972. Bids were opened July 7, 1975, with two joint ventures competing. The contract was awarded to Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., Omaha, and Brown and Root, Inc., Houston, on August 11, 1975, for $102.8M. Work began Aug. 18, with mining starting in November. The eastbound bore opened in 1979.
At first the tunnel was called the Straight Creek Tunnel, but now carries the name Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel. The westbound bore is named for President Dwight Eisenhower, and the eastbound bore for for Edwin C. Johnson, a Colorado governor and US senator.
The Eisenhower Tunnel: Lifeline of Central Colorado
Since it is the only major route through that part of the state,
traffic volumes hit breaking-point numbers through the Eisenhower
Tunnel on the weekends when Denverites flee to the mountains. CDOT,
on weekends when heavy volume is expected, occasionally configures
the tunnel for one eastbound/three westbound lanes on Saturday
mornings, and one westbound/three eastbound lanes on Sunday
afternoons.
As an illustration of the problems the traffic causes, here's some excerpts from an article in the July 6, 1998 Rocky Mountain News. By 10pm Sunday, July 5th, 1998, 44,878 vehicles had used the tunnel that day, breaking all previous daily records. I-70 was bumper-to-bumper eastbound on that Sunday afternoon for 30 miles west of Denver. Coming east, things finally started loosening up and moving the speed limit at the point where it widens to three lanes in each direction east of the Twin Tunnels east of Idaho Springs. With things below 20mph for miles, drivers rolled down their windows and visited with cars beside each other. People took breaks at service stations until the gridlock passed, but that lasted until dusk. The tunnel itself was configured for 3 EB/1 WB lanes starting at 11am the 5th, and lasted to 4pm. This was an hour longer than planned, says tunnel superintendent Mike Salamon. He says the day was "uneventful, except for the sheer volume." Eastbound traffic needs the three lanes to keep things moving, because the eastbound approach is longer and steeper than the westbound one. Vapor lock and overheating are common on the EB approach. Also, in the week before July 4, 42 vehicles stalled and two caught fire in the tunnel!
The growth Colorado has been experiencing has begun to choke the Eisenhower Tunnel each summer. August 1997 was the second month in a row that the tunnel topped a traffic count of 1 million cars. 1,016,951 cars went through the tunnel in August, a one-month record. That tops the 1,004,999 cars that went through in July, the first month it was over 1 million. For comparison, only about 3.4 million cars went through the tunnel all of 1974, its first full year of operation. "Every year the volume has increased 3 percent to 5 percent since the tunnel opened," said Dan Hopkins of CDOT. They expect July and August having volumes of 1 million cars to become commonplace. Solutions are being studied, but works is years off.
Other Notable Features
From Utah, I-70 starts off
paralleling the Colorado River in the Grand
Valley (the Colorado used to be called the Grand River). Near the
border the terrain is rolling near-desert, but levels out and as it
works its way east. Until Exit
15, I-70's two roadways are separated by a fair distance in most
places. At first,
I-70 has an unmarked multiplex with US 6-50, but US 6 breaks off at
Mack (Exit 11) and parallels I-70 on I-70's north side southeast
toward Grand Junction. Loma is the next town, then the tourist-oriented
town of Fruita, home to Colorado National Monument and southern gateway
to Dinosaur National Monument.
At Exit 26, US 6 crosses over from the north to the south side of I-70 heading east, and US 50 exits and heads southeast concurrent with US 6. This is also the west end of Grand Junction's BL I-70. I-70 bypasses to the north of town, and BL I-70 joins back up on the other side of town at Exit 37. I-70 then hugs the south edge of the Book Cliffs for a few miles passing Palisade. At Exit 44, US 6 begins an unmarked overlap with I-70 and it enters De Beque Canyon, a fairly narrow, 60mph section of highway. There's a whopping 13 miles without an exit, from SH 65 to the town of De Beque. A twin-bore tunnel, the Beavertail Mountain Tunnel, exists just northeast of SH 65. At the northeast end of the canyon, there is a 2-mile stretch were the two roadways for I-70 are on opposite sides of the river.
I-70 passes the town of De Beque at Exit 62, and I-70 continues
northeast up the broad valley of the Colorado River. Parachute and
Battlement Mesa are the next towns. At Exit 87, US 6 breaks off to the
north to go into
Rifle. US 6 continues to parallel I-70 all the way to Chacra, both
passing Silt and New Castle. US 6 again joins I-70 with an unmarked
overlap at Exit 109.
Exit 116 is Glenwood Springs, and then it's up the Colorado River into Glenwood Canyon. I-70 finally leaves the Colorado River at Dotsero, following the lush, broad (compared to Glenwood) canyon of the Eagle River upstream. I-70 skirts the north sides of Gypsum, Eagle, Avon, Edwards, and Vail. At Exit 140 at Gypsum, US 6 leaves I-70, and goes on its south side through Eagle. US 6 crosses under I-70, then goes through Wolcott, and the two continue through Edwards, Avon, and at Exit 171, the same place where US 24 ends, US 6 joins I-70 again. From there, it's through Vail, over Vail Pass (10,666ft), and through Frisco, Silverthorne, and Dillon.
At Exit 205, US 6 leaves I-70, and heads east toward Loveland Pass. I-70 heads up Straight Creek Canyon, for a steep climb to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Between the Silverthorne exit and the Eisenhower tunnel, there are three lanes each direction. Going downhill toward Silverthorne there are two runaway ramps and a 30mph speed limit for trucks. Since no hazardous materials are allowed in the Eisenhower, no hazmat trucks are allowed on I-70 from Exits 205 to 216 (the east US 6/Loveland Pass exit). See above for more on the Eisenhower Tunnel.
East of the tunnel, I-70 follows Clear Creek on its decent down to Denver. Bakerville, Silver Plume, Georgetown, Downieville, Lawson, Dumont, and Idaho Springs are passed through. At Exit 233, US 40 comes down from Berthoud Pass and joins I-70.
East of Idaho Springs, there is a stretch of I-70 that is sub-Interstate standard with numerous < 55mph curves. I-70 is attempting to wind its way through a narrow section of Clear Creek Canyon, and it's a tight squeeze. There is a short twin-bore tunnel, called the Twin Tunnels, at Milepost 242. At Exit 244, I-70 breaks off a Clear Creek Canyon and follows a route to the south of that. For the two miles east of Exit 244, I-70 goes up Floyd Hill, with a 6% grade, eastbound uphill. There are also several places where US 40 leaves I-70, only to join I-70 again in a very short distance. None of the exits are signed as US 40. These segments where US 40 is off of I-70 include Exits 248 to 251, and Exits 254 to 259. At 259 though, US 40 finally is off of I-70 for good, heading onto Colfax Ave. for its trip across metro Denver.
Coming east into Metro Denver south of Golden I-70 comes down a sharp grade in Mount Vernon Canyon. There is a 6% grade for five miles, and CDOT goes to great lengths to make sure truckers know this. There are signs all along this stretch that say things like "6% Grade / Truckers Stay in Low Gear", and after a brief flat section there is sign that says "Don't Be Fooled / Still Another Four Miles of 6% Grade / Truckers Stay in Low Gear." There is one runaway ramp.
Just east of SH 470 (Exit 260), I-70 finally hits the bottom of the hill. It takes a turn to the north, and east of Golden at the SH 58 interchange, turns back to the east. We're now in the throngs of metro Denver, so the number of lanes fluctuates. At Exit 274, I-70 hits I-25 in the Mousetrap Interchange. Go to my I-25 page for more about the Mousetrap.
From the Mousetrap, I-70 heads east along an elevated section over 46th Avenue. It's a nasty viaduct, with no shoulders and short accel-decel lanes. At Colorado Blvd., I-70 lands back on the ground and then heads east through the area where Stapleton International Airport used to be. This section was redone shortly after Stapleton was closed, because there used to be a tunnel where I-70 went under a runway, but that is now gone.
At Exit 285, I-70 hits Pe�a Blvd. which takes you to the new Denver International Airport. Pe�a is interesting in the fact that it's a city-owned freeway.
At Exit 288, Colfax and US 40-287/BL 70 hit I-70. From there I-70 heads out onto the high plains, going east past Watkins, Strasburg, and Byers, where US 36 breaks off at Exit 316. From there, I-70/unmarked US 40-287 continues southeast passing Deer Trail and Agate, all the time rolling up and down with the terrain. I-70 then bypasses Limon, where US 40-287 breaks off to head southeast toward Hugo. From there, I-70 goes east past Genoa, Flagler, Seibert, Stratton, and Burlington, then east into Kansas.
History:
The original interstate system from 1956 had I-70 ending in Denver,
rather than continuing west over the mountains. A decision was made
to extend I-70 west to Utah in about 1958.
Here are when various freeway segments of I-70 were completed, or shown as completed on state maps. From west to east:
|
Utah border to Mack |
1973 |
|
Mack to Fruita |
1972 |
|
Fruita to west Grand Junction |
1970 |
|
Grand Junction bypass |
1966 |
|
East Grand Junction to SH 65 |
1964 |
|
De Beque Canyon (SH 65 to De Beque) |
1989 |
|
De Beque |
1983 |
|
De Beque to Parachute |
1984 |
|
Parachute to Rifle |
1983 |
|
Rifle to Silt |
1977 |
|
Silt to New Castle |
1973 |
|
New Castle to Glenwood Springs |
1971 |
|
Glenwood Canyon (Glenwood Springs to Dotsero) |
1993 |
|
Dotsero to Eagle |
1982 |
|
Eagle to Wolcott |
1973 |
|
Wolcott to Avon |
1972 |
|
Avon to Vail |
1970 |
|
Vail Pass (Vail to Copper Mountain) |
1978 |
|
Copper Mountain to Frisco |
1979 |
|
Frisco to Silverthorne |
1972 |
|
Silverthorne to Eisenhower Tunnel |
1973 |
| North Bore Eisenhower Tunnel |
1973 |
| South Bore Eisenhower Tunnel |
1979 |
|
Eisenhower Tunnel to Silver Plume |
1972 |
|
Silver Plume to US 40 (Empire) |
1968 |
|
US 40 (Empire) to west Idaho Springs |
1966 |
|
Idaho Springs bypass |
1960 |
|
East Idaho Springs to US 6 (Clear Creek Canyon) |
1961 |
|
US 6 (Clear Creek Canyon) to El Rancho |
1975 |
|
El Rancho to US 40 (Hogback/Morrison) |
1971 |
|
US 40 (Hogback/Morrison) to Kipling St. |
1970 |
|
Kipling St. to Wadsworth Blvd. |
1968 |
|
Wadsworth Blvd. to I-25 |
1967 |
|
I-25 Mousetrap interchange |
1950 |
|
I-25 to Peoria St. |
1965 |
|
Peoria St. to east Colfax Ave. |
1966 |
|
East Colfax Ave. to Watkins |
1977 |
|
Watkins to Bennett |
1963 |
|
Bennett to Byers |
1964 |
|
Byers to Deer Trail |
1967 |
|
Deer Trail to Agate |
1968 |
|
Agate to west Limon |
Two lanes w/ interchanges 1963 |
|
West Limon to west Genoa |
1975 |
|
Genoa bypass |
1977 |
|
East Genoa to Flagler |
1975 |
|
Flagler to Seibert |
1974 |
|
Seibert to Bethune |
Two lanes w/ interchanges 1966 |
|
Bethune to Burlington |
1967 |
|
Burlington to Kansas border |
1970 |
The elevated 46th Avenue freeway from I-25 to Colorado Blvd. in
Denver was dedicated September 12, 1964. Until I-70 started to be
completed west of I-25 in 1967, I-70 was run along US 6 from Golden
to I-25.
One of the interesting features I-70 had in east Denver was the
Stapleton Airport Tunnel. Dating to I-70's early years, the tunnel took
I-70 under one of Stapleton's north-south runways and taxiway. Later a
second, shorter tunnel just to east was added for another taxiway. It
was
one of the few places in the country an Interstate crossed under an
active runway. See a picture here that shows the longer, western tunnel. Here's a 1993 aerial
from Google that shows the area. The tunnels were demolished following
Stapleton's replacement with Denver International Airport in 1995.
I-70 over Vail Pass was the subject of a controversy before the
alignment that ended up getting built was settled on. The first state
highway over Vail Pass was US 6, which opened about 1941 approximately
along the route of present day I-70. In 1963, CDH proposed an alignment
for I-70 which from Vail would take it east via Gore Creek (rather than
southeast via Black Gore Creek as I-70 does now). Then the proposed
alignment would have gone east through the Eagles Nest Wilderness Area,
used a long tunnel under Red Buffalo Pass,
then followed South Willow Creek, intersecting SH 9 north of
Silverthorne. After many adversarial public hearings, CDH scrapped that
alignment and instead built along existing US 6. At first CDH proposed
an interchange northwest of the summit at Miller Creek, but along the
way dropped that idea. I-70 over Vail Pass opened in 1978. In some
places the old roadbed of US 6 became part of the Frisco-Vail bike
trail.
In Denver, the new Central Park Boulevard interchange opened on
October 24, 2011. The new interchange also included reworking the I-270
ramps to west with the braid structures. Prior to the Central Park
interchange being built, the I-270 ramps tied to I-70 further west.
The US 6 West Parachute (Exit 72) interchange opened in November 2012. Previously there was just an overpass but no ramps.
Widening of the Twin Tunnels east of Idaho Springs began in 2013; previously they were just two lanes in each direction. The 3-lane wide eastbound bore opened on December 12, 2013. The opening included extending the third eastbound lane from the bottom of Floyd Hill (Exit 244) to the east Idaho Springs interchange (Exit 241).
The westbound bore of the Twin Tunnels was also widened, completed in December 2014. However, no new lanes were part of it, instead the bore was widened in anticipation of a third lane someday going through it.
The Twin Tunnels were renamed the Veterans Memorial Tunnels in December 2014 at the completion of the widening project.
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Last updated 25 May 2015
