$700 million upgrade getting going to fix one I-70 mountain bottleneck
Long known as a place where car trips get unbearable, one of the biggest bottlenecks along the Interstate 70 route in and out of the mountains is getting a two-thirds of a billion-dollar upgrade to a pinch point both east and westbound.
"On the weekends I-70 gets all the way backed up to Genesee," said Lisa Marcolina who works at the antique store at the top of Floyd Hill. "It's very dangerous. I can't, I don't know, how people drive down it in the winter."
The upgrade will come in stages. Starting in a few weeks will be the creation of a wildlife overpass miles to the east at Genesee included as part of the project.
Also, there will be roundabouts added along the access roads near Beaver Brook and atop Floyd Hill.
But the big parts come after ski season.
"The project will add a third lane, an express lane from the top of Floyd Hill connecting into the mountain express going westbound," said Kurt Kionka, who is CDOT's Floyd Hill project director.
That is only part of a vast threading of new lanes and roads through the area.
"One of the constraints of building in the canyon is that you have a rock face on one side and Clear Creek on the other," he observed about the design.
The eventual plan is to go up, raising the level of the highway, especially the westbound lanes, which will be borne by a viaduct that will cross over and above the eastbound lanes toward the bottom of the hill and come back. A new access road will snake beneath the highway.
"We are adding a new connection from the bottom of Floyd Hill so there will be a new on-ramp from US 6 that will carry up Floyd Hill to the Homestead interchange," said Kionka.
That interchange is the one at the top by the antique store.
"We are also flattening curves so making those more gentle, improving sight distance, safety," said Kionka.
Idaho Springs leaders say they were part of the planning to express what the community wanted. There will be a sound wall on the east end of town as well as an access road that does not currently exist that can carry traffic at times of trouble.
"That's one of our big concerns is having traffic here when there's an incident on the highway people trying to find a way through in the city and getting stuck on one of our mountain roads here," said Idaho Springs city administrator Andrew Marsh.
The project will happen in three phases starting in spring or early summer: The Eastern part of the project on the hill; The western part of the project which is at the Hidden Valley interchange to the exit at Idaho Springs will follow, that will begin in the Fall or Winter of next year; The last, most dramatic central part of the project will begin in 2024 with hopes that it will be complete in 2027.