Storm to make mountain travel tough

Heavy snow, high winds and avalanche control work will make mountain travel along the Interstate 70 corridor “extremely difficult” Friday, officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation warned Thursday afternoon.

A winter storm is expected to drop 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour Friday in the high mountain passes, with as much as 3 feet accumulating in some areas, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder.

“We’re expecting delays and difficult travel conditions, and we want people to be aware and prepared,” Jamie Yount, winter operations manager at CDOT, said Thursday.

Avalanche mitigation crews will be closing some roads along I-70, U.S. 40 and the mountain passes for avalanche mitigation beginning at dawn Friday and continuing into the midmorning, Yount said. “We close the road, make sure it’s clear of the public, do our avalanche mitigation work, and if any snow reaches the highway we do the cleanup, and once that is all finished we’ll get back open,” he said.

Yount advised anyone traveling through the mountains Friday to start later in the day; the weather is expected to improve in the afternoon, and CDOT hopes to finish avalanche mitigation work by midmorning.

CDOT officials couldn’t say Thursday exactly where the road closures might occur because the work is largely dependent on the conditions of the day, spokeswoman Presley Fowler said.

Yount encouraged drivers to check cotrip.org and CDOT’s other online resources for the most up-to-date information.

“It’ll be all hands on deck,” Yount said.

Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post Truck driver Charles Shephard, on his way to Delta, puts chains on his rig Thursday before heading toward Loveland Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70. A winter storm is expected to drop 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour Friday in the high mountain passes. Some areas of the high country could receive 3 feet of snow.