Winter storm causes travel issues along I-70 into the high country

The first significant snowstorm of the season hung up traffic and caused snarls and delays, especially in the foothills. Traffic was delayed for hours Thursday evening as I-70 shut down in several spots both in the high country and in Clear Creek County on the west side of Evergreen.

It meant that people with plans in the mountains had a big frozen wrench thrown into their plans. Dawn Detienne of Fort Collins had hotel reservations in Central City where family was gathered, but could not get there. An accident on Highway 6 made that impossible.

"So we turned around, went back down to the intersection and tried to go up the other way, got stopped, so we came back down. Now we're trying to go up I-70." 

The hotel would not cancel the reservations so they waited at a McDonald's in Evergreen for things to clear on I-70 before having a second try. They had to make if through the Beaver Brook area on the west side of Evergreen where the road was shut down for hours. 

Plows could not make it through the backup, which challenged re-opening. There were also closures of I-70 in both directions at Idaho Springs and deeper in the mountains. But 10 p.m. though most of I-70 was open again, with the exception of westbound from Georgetown to Silverthorne.