Colo. Rock Slide Closes I-70 Indefinitely

A rock slide that punched gaping holes in a bridge and left huge boulders on Interstate 70, forcing a 17-mile stretch of the western Colorado highway to be closed indefinitely, has prompted the governor to declare a disaster emergency Monday.

About 20 boulders tumbled onto I-70 in Glenwood Canyon at about midnight Sunday. No injuries or damage to vehicles were reported, but the slide left holes as large as 10 feet by 20 feet in a bridge-like elevated section of roadway.

About 20 boulders, ranging from three to ten feet long, were scattered on the highway, with the largest weighing 66 tons, officials said.

All lanes were closed from Glenwood Springs east to the town of Dotsero.

I-70 is a vital east-west link in Colorado. The state's Department of Transportation has no estimate of when it will reopen.

Up to 25,000 vehicles a day travel that section of the major east-west artery, department spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.

Because of the rugged terrain, the shortest detour is more than 200 miles.

Stegman said the rock slide took out median barriers, steel guardrails and at least one lightpole.

"To me, it looks like a war zone," she told CBS Station KCNC. She said that from an engineering perspective, though, the damage was less than originally thought.

Crews were breaking up the fallen boulders with explosives so they could be hauled away.

Workers hiked up the side of a Colorado canyon Tuesday to examine another boulder threatening to fall on I-70. It is about 20 feet in diameter and sits about 900 feet above the roadway.

After ascending the canyon wall, the crew began working its way back down a steeper section with climbing ropes to reach the boulder.

They will decide whether to pry it loose or break it up so it falls in smaller pieces, department spokeswoman Mindy Crane said.

Gov. Bill Ritter declared a disaster emergency for the highway, allowing the state to seek funding from the Federal Highway Administration to help pay for repairs.

Engineers are still developing an estimate of the repair costs. A similar slide in the same area in 2004 cost $1.2 million to repair, including a $700,000 emergency contract with a contractor.

Stegman said some lanes could reopen soon, but they don't know how long it would take to finish roadway repairs and reopen all the lanes.

KCNC reports that a 1995 rock slide on I-70 in Glenwood Canyon killed three people. A slide on Thanksgiving Day in 2004 closed the highway and required nearly $700,000 worth of repairs.