I-70 Mountain Corridor

I-70 Mountain Corridor

The I-70 Mountain Corridor will be a 144-mile route through Colorado’s mountains, on the existing I-70 highway. Its goals are to improve accessibility and mobility and decrease congestion along the corridor.

This is a very important project to take care now itself as it is the main access point to Colorado’s high-elevation recreation areas which also generates over 12 percent of the state’s $19.1 billion in revenue in 2015. The main problem is that the CDOT estimates that the I-70 travel times will triple or quadruple by 2035. According to a study done that year by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, it is expected to lose more than $800 million every year.

“The long-term vision for the 144-mile route on I-70 through Colorado’s mountains includes a broad program of transit, highway, safety, and other improvements. Implementing planned improvements will increase capacity, improve accessibility and mobility, and decrease congestion along the corridor. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision, approved in 2011, provides background to how the solution was developed, details the improvements, and provides a framework for implementation of specific projects in the Corridor as funding allows. This decision is referred to as the Tier 1 decision” (CODOT).

The project is going to cost $3.5 billion. It is still in planning stages.

A picture of the proposed project (Image Credits: CoDOT)