Travel, construction increasing on I-70 mountain corridor as summer heats up

With summer here, travel is increasing once again along the I-70 mountain corridor.

The Colorado Department of Transportation saw an increase in vehicles traveling through the Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels in May 2014 when compared with 2013. A total of 770,096 vehicles traveled through the tunnels in May of this year, 20,244 more than traveled through in May 2013.

These numbers are for travel through both the east and westbound portals combined. These numbers equal out to an average daily total of 24,842. 4,517,689 total vehicles have passed through the tunnels in 2014 through May 31, 2014.

As the state head into the summer months travel is expected to increase along the corridor as motorists head up and down the mountains to take advantage of summer in Colorado’s high country.

A few tips to remember when traveling. This is construction season and we have several projects along this corridor with daily impacts to travelers. These projects span from Floyd Hill past Grand Junction. Detours, full closures, various single lane closures and road maintenance occurs daily along this entire corridor so motorists are encouraged to allow for extra time, check www.cotrip.org for real time travel conditions and sign up for alerts at www.coloraddot.info and clicking on the green cell phone icon in the right hand corner. Avoid distracted driving and always pack essentials such as food and water for your trips.

To receive real-time updates about road conditions in your area, visit www.coloradodot.info and click on the green cell phone icon in the upper right hand corner of the page. Information about weekly lane closures will be available at www.coloradodot.info/travel/scheduled-lane-closures.html. Live road conditions are available at www.cotrip.org, downloading the CDOT Mobile app or by calling 511 from anywhere in the state. Updates are also available via Twitter @coloradodot.