The Colorado Department of Transportation did not see the record-breaking Interstate 70 traffic numbers it suspected over the weekend, but there was no shortage of drivers on the road.

On Saturday going eastbound, there were 25,811 drivers on I-70 through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel, with 2 p.m. being the busiest hour seeing 2,606 drivers. Travel times between Denver and Summit County over the weekend stretched to two and a half hours both east and westbound, according to CDOT statistics.

With the help of a historical log of traffic along one of the major travel corridors in Colorado, CDOT tries to predict expected traffic on any given weekend throughout the winter season.

The last year that New Year’s Day fell on a Wednesday was 2019/2020 when records were set at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel. In 2020, major snowstorms hit the Colorado mountains leading into the holiday.

Smaller snow events were expected over the same weekend this year, and CDOT predicted that fresh snow would drive ski traffic, which would combine with travelers returning from the holidays, potentially leading to traffic jams through the weekend.

They were correct — and while none of the weekend’s numbers caught up to those during the same weekend in 2020, they still soared, according to CDOT.

On Friday this year, there were 25,764 westbound drivers and 26,904 eastbound drivers. This is slightly less than on the same Friday in 2020, when there were 26,904 westbound drivers and 28,320 eastbound drivers. 

Saturday this year saw 20,878 westbound drivers and 25,811 eastbound drivers, while 2020’s same Saturday saw 23,124 westbound drivers and 28,605 eastbound drivers.

On a similar trend, Sunday this year saw 16,472 westbound and 19,856 eastbound drivers. In 2020, Sunday saw 19,754 westbound drivers and 28,374 eastbound drivers. 

“Although we didn’t match the records set over the same weekend in 2020, each day was very busy with travel times,” CDOT spokesperson Stacia Sellers told The Denver Gazette on Tuesday. “We did see some extra volume outside of normal peak hours, mostly because we think people heard the messages about the possibility of long delays.”