Overnight I-70 closures at Floyd Hill begin Sunday night, and the Hidden Valley ramp stays shut through Friday
CDOT will close eastbound I-70 near Idaho Springs on Sunday night to shift traffic onto a new bridge over Clear Creek, then close westbound I-70 at US 6 on Monday and Tuesday nights to grout the segmental bridge above it.
Valley drivers heading to or from Denver after dark this week should plan around three overnight full closures of Interstate 70 at Floyd Hill, east of Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County. The Colorado Department of Transportation has scheduled the closures as work advances on The Live Lift, the westbound concrete segmental bridge being built over the highway near US 6, and as eastbound traffic shifts into a new alignment between the Veterans Memorial Tunnels and Hidden Valley.
First comes the eastbound closure. Eastbound I-70 will close between Idaho Springs (Exit 241) and Hidden Valley and Central City Parkway (Exit 243) from 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 to 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 19, so crews can shift eastbound traffic north onto the newly completed bridge over Clear Creek, CDOT said. Eastbound drivers will merge into one lane, exit at Idaho Springs and follow County Road 314 east to rejoin I-70 at Hidden Valley. The eastbound off-ramp to Hidden Valley (Exit 243) stays closed longer, from 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 through 6 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, while crews tie the ramp into the new alignment; drivers for Hidden Valley should use Exit 241 and County Road 314.
Westbound closes Monday and Tuesday nights
Westbound I-70 will then close at US 6 (Exit 244) from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Monday night, Oct. 19, and again on Tuesday night, Oct. 20, while crews grout the tendons on the segmental bridge, a protective seal that CDOT says gives the bridge a longer lifespan and a smoother ride. Westbound drivers will merge into one lane and use the US 6 off-ramp and on-ramp to continue west. All of the work is weather-dependent, CDOT said. If conditions force a change, the eastbound closure would move to the night of Sunday, Oct. 25, the ramp closure would run Oct. 25 to Oct. 30, and the westbound closures would move to Monday, Oct. 26 and Tuesday, Oct. 27. More overnight closures in both directions are expected from mid-November through mid-December.
Sun glare detours are also about to return
In a second release dated Oct. 16, CDOT said sun glare season returns to the same stretch of highway. A preparatory traffic hold is planned at about 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, ahead of seasonal eastbound detours that run from Nov. 1 through February, from sunrise to 8:30 a.m., near Mile Points 244 to 248 east of Idaho Springs. A sun glare detour does not stop traffic, CDOT said; it reroutes eastbound drivers off I-70 at the bottom of Floyd Hill to continue east on US 6 through Clear Creek Canyon or on the US 40 frontage road to re-enter I-70 at Beaver Brook (Exit 248), with delays of up to an hour possible. Detour decisions are made daily, case by case, by Colorado State Patrol and CDOT personnel stationed near Floyd Hill.
The project behind the closures
The Floyd Hill project is rebuilding eight miles of the I-70 mountain corridor from west of Evergreen to eastern Idaho Springs. Its centerpiece is a third westbound lane that will operate as an Express Lane to relieve the current two-lane bottleneck, alongside a missing two-mile section of frontage road, an eastbound extended on-ramp for slow-moving vehicles, interchange and sight-distance improvements, Clear Creek Greenway trail work and safer wildlife crossings, according to CDOT. Construction began in July 2023; CDOT expects I-70 to be in its new alignment in 2028 and the full project to conclude in 2029. These are scheduled closures published by CDOT in advance, not a conditions report. Before traveling, check COtrip.org and the COtrip Planner app for the latest travel information.
