I-70 saw more than 160,000 drivers over the Fourth of July holiday weekend
The Colorado Department of Transportation reported that there were no major closures on I-70 over the holiday weekend
Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News
The Interstate 70 mountain corridor was busy over the Fourth of July weekend, but did not see record-breaking traffic.
About 163,500 vehicles passed through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels from Thursday, July 2, through Sunday, July 5, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
That’s about 4% fewer vehicles than during the Fourth of July holiday period last year and about 10% fewer vehicles than during 2020, which was the last time that the holiday fell on a weekend.
Sunday was the busiest day on I-70 over the holiday weekend, with about 46,450 drivers on the road, with nearly two-thirds headed eastbound toward Denver, according to the transportation department.
On Thursday, about 44,500 drivers passed through the tunnels. On Friday, more than 42,000 passed through the tunnels, the majority of them heading westbound to the mountains ahead of the holiday.
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The transportation department reported that there were no major issues or closures on the I-70 mountain corridor over the weekend, despite concerns about the high fire danger ahead of the holiday.
“Many first responders breathed a sigh of relief with no fire starts along the I-70 mountain corridor this holiday weekend,” CDOT communications manager Austyn Dineen said in an email. “However, with much of the state experiencing severe drought and every county west of I-25 under fire restrictions, the risk of human-caused wildfires remains very high.”
