I-70 Colorado closure could be a month

Every day there are new updates regarding the Grizzley Creek fire in Western Colorado. Currently, I-70 is closed from mm 140 to mm 114, the fire is currently 0% contained and is growing exponentially on a daily basis, it has also jumped the Colorado river and is growing to the south. They are now examining the bridges through Glenwood Canyon for structural damage, in addition to the fire, they are now starting to getting rock slides as a result of the burned away vegetation. Even if they get the fire under control, they will have to do rock scaling and rock fall mitigation to be able to safely open the highway.

It is strongly advised that drivers avoid travelling west through Colorado. The current detour, Denver to Grand Junction, via US 285/US 50 is taking on average 8 hours to get from Denver to Grand Junction. If at all possible reroute north to Wyoming and go across I 80 and catch I-15 in Salt Lake City, or go south to New Mexico and catch I 40.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do not attempt to believe or trust your GPS. Hwy 82 from Aspen to Hwy 24 is not a truck route, the fines start at $1,150 and go up from there. They have had multiple jacknifes and trucks sliding off the road, I've head of a couple of $10,000 tow bills. Further, some GPS systems are routing drivers onto narrow backroads and 4 wheel drive trails, in most cases, you may have to back up 3 or 4 miles to get back to the main road. It's not worth it, do not be stupid, the locals, the local cops, sheriff's, Colorado State Patrol and Colorado Dept. of Transportation are not playing games, they will not hesitate to write you a ticket.

 

That smoke is coming from the Pine Ridge fire north of Grand Junction, there are currently 4 fires burning in Colorado, Pine Ridge north of Junction, Grizzley Creek in Glenwood Canyon, the other two, one is near Grandby, the other west of Ft. Collins near Hwy 14