Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon reopened Sunday evening after multiple mudslides flowed onto the roadway Saturday afternoon, resulting in a more than 24-hour closure. 

All lanes of eastbound and westbound I-70 reopened at reduced speed by 4 p.m. Sunday, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The speed limit in the area is 40 mph to keep residual dust down.

The mudslides covered hundreds of feet of the interstate Saturday afternoon, with some areas as deep as 9 feet, the department said.

Crews worked overnight to try to clear the roadway, removing hundreds of loads of debris away from the interstate. However, the wet, sloppy debris has made it difficult to contain, the department said.

A lack of space on the roadway also limited cleanup crews to only using two front-loaders and 10 trucks to haul away debris Saturday.

Mudslides close I-70 for second weekend in a row

“Once all the debris is carried away, crews will still need to sweep and wash the roadway,” said Lisa Schwantes, a department spokeswoman, Sunday morning. “The good news is we have a lower chance of precipitation today, anticipated higher temperatures will help dry out that road surface.”

The Grizzly Creek rest area, Shoshone rest area and Glenwood Canyon recreation path remain closed with no estimated reopening date.

During the closures, drivers traveling in that area were forced to detour north through Steamboat Springs. The detour added about 2 1/2 hours of travel time.

The mudslides happened after a flash flood warning was issued at 3 p.m. Saturday in Eagle and Garfield counties, prompting a preemptive closure of I-70 between Glenwood Springs and Dotsero.

While state transportation department personnel were moving their vehicles out of Glenwood Canyon, a mudslide barreled down the mountain and covered the highway. Shortly after, four more mudslides had flowed over the roadway.

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The flash flood risk in the area has since abated, according to the National Weather Service.

The closure came just five days after I-70 reopened to traffic after last weekend’s round of mudslides from the Grizzly Creek burn scar closed the roadway for several days.

During a news conference Sunday, officials said there’s not much they can do to prevent future mudslides because it is too big of an area to treat, and the narrow canyon leaves little space for crews to work.

“It’s extremely difficult to handle,” said Region 3 Transportation Director Mike Goolsby. “You’re taking 30,000 acres of not good soil and running it down 20 drainages and, unfortunately, the thing at the bottom of it is the interstate.

“If we didn’t have fires and we didn’t have droughts and we didn’t have some of these other things, it probably wouldn’t be impacting our roads.”