I-70 Construction Updates: What Colorado Skiers Need to Know in 2026

If you’ve made your way up I-70 from Denver and the surrounding Front Range this ski season, you have probably seen all the progress being made on the Floyd Hill project. So what do Front Range skiers have to look forward to on this behemoth of a project that broke ground in 2023? CDOT told us they are deep into the most ambitious overhaul of the I-70 Mountain Corridor in the highway's history. Here's where things stand.

Floyd Hill - A Front Range Skier's Least Favorite Part of I-70

Three westbound lanes funnel into two at the top of Floyd Hill, a steep chokepoint, then hit a steep curve at the bottom of the hill, causing significant traffic before you've even reached the Eisenhower Tunnel. CDOT's $905 million Floyd Hill Project covers eight miles from Exit 248 near Evergreen to Exit 241 at Idaho Springs, and is the most consequential piece of infrastructure work on the corridor in decades.

The project is now in its most visible phase. After two-plus years of rock blasting and roadway work, crews have removed more than 600,000 tons of material from the hillside above I-70. Bridge construction over I-70 is actively underway over live traffic, and CDOT is calling it the Live Lift. A new cast-in-place concrete segmental bridge is being built in 15-foot sections between two piers, approximately 20 to 30 feet above the current highway. That bridge will house the westbound I-70 lanes, shifting the highway south into the hillside above Clear Creek. This will ultimately eliminate the sharp turn at the bottom of the hill, reducing one of the corridor’s biggest bottlenecks, as drivers will no longer have to brake hard into the turn and trigger the ripple effect that backs up traffic on Floyd Hill. CDOT has an animated video that shows exactly how the new lanes are being built. With the improvements in place, this stretch is projected to take under 30 minutes, down from 60 minutes it currently takes on weekend mornings. 

Image: Courtesy of CDOT

Despite the upside and borderline necessity of this project, its price tag has grown since its inception. The original 2020 estimate was $700 million based on a preliminary conceptual design, and as design progressed and construction and material costs rose across the industry, the estimate climbed to $905 million. Beyond the bridge, the project delivers a permanent, full-time tolled Express Lane on westbound I-70 from just west of Homestead Road (Exit 247) to Idaho Springs, while retaining two free general-purpose lanes. According to Austyn Dineen, I-70 Mountain Corridor Communications Manager, westbound I-70 will be in its new alignment by the end of 2027, with substantial completion by 2028. "Work extending into 2029 will not have major impacts to traffic on I-70," Dineen said. 

Be advised that rock blasting runs Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday mornings until noon, through the end of 2026. Delays of up to 45 minutes may be needed to clear the queue after a hold. Lane and ramp closures continue during off-peak hours, speed drops to 45 mph through the work zone, and overnight I-70 closures at the US 6 interchange (Exit 244) will occur periodically but not during peak travel or heavy ski weekends, CDOT says. Text floydhill to 21000 for real-time alerts.

Vail Pass: The Final Season

The West Vail Pass Auxiliary Lanes project has been running since 2021 without generating nearly the attention of Floyd Hill, but the $325 million project, covering Mile Point 180 at the East Vail exit to MP 190 at the Vail Pass Rest Area, is wrapping up its last construction season in 2026, and this past winter delivered its biggest result yet.

A new eastbound auxiliary lane opened on the final climb to Vail Pass summit between MP 187.3 and 190, paired with a new eastbound bridge at MP 185 between East Vail and Vail Pass. For the first time, the steepest section of the approach has three eastbound lanes — giving slower-moving vehicles a dedicated space to climb rather than backing up traffic behind them all the way into Vail Valley. 

Construction resumes in late April, so expect single-lane closures during both day and night with intermittent 20-minute traffic holds and occasional recreation path closures possible on weekdays beginning in June. 

Remaining work includes completing a first-of-its-kind avalanche- and rockfall-mitigation system at the Narrows near MP 186. This system will allow CDOT and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) to actively monitor and manage a known slide path rather than reactively close the road when it goes out. 

Six wildlife underpasses are also being completed between MP 187 and the pass summit, along with wildlife fencing from MP 185 to 190. The project is targeting completion ahead of the 2026-27 ski season. "By then, skiers and riders can expect an end to construction-related delays while benefiting from rockfall and avalanche mitigation, a third eastbound lane, and significant safety improvements along the I-70 Mountain Corridor," Dineen said.

 Text vailpass to 21000 for updates this summer and fall.

Express Lanes: Dynamic Pricing Is Now the Reality

The I-70 Mountain Express Lanes — 12 miles westbound and 13 miles eastbound between the Veterans Memorial Tunnels and Empire — have been open for several years, but as of fall 2024 CDOT shifted to fully dynamic real-time pricing. 

Tolls now fluctuate based on live traffic volume and can change every five to fifteen minutes. The lanes are toll-only with no HOV exemptions: everyone pays, motorcycles included, and tolls are collected through an ExpressToll account or billed to your license plate. Overhead signs show current pricing before you commit to the lane, so check the signs and make the call…it’s probably going to be worth it. 

When the Floyd Hill Express Lane comes online upon completion of that project, the same structure will apply westbound from Exit 247 to Idaho Springs.

The Eisenhower Tunnel and the Gap that Remains

The Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel sit at 11,158 feet and handle roughly 37,000 vehicles on an average day, the corridor's defining chokepoint. If an accident occurs inside one of the tunnels, clearing it takes significantly longer than on an open highway. 

When “metering” is activated on the eastbound approach during high-volume periods, the math is unforgiving: for every minute of stopped traffic, it can take up to eight minutes to clear the queue. A major storm weekend or even a fender bender on a Sunday afternoon shows how little margin the system has.

A planned westbound climbing lane between Bakerville and the tunnel's east portal was started in 2022, paused in 2023 due to a lack of funding, and remains shelved. "We are reviewing available funding and will revisit the project scope once that outlook becomes clearer," Dineen said. However, a resurfacing project in fall 2025 replaced pavement in the right lanes of both bores; tunnel metering systems continue to manage flow during peak periods on the eastbound approach. CDOT launched a new I-70 Mountain Corridor hub, consolidating live cameras, real-time conditions, and travel forecasts in one place.

The Bottom Line

The I-70 Mountain Corridor is in a constant construction cycle that won't be resolved until at least 2029. Floyd Hill is the most disruptive active project and will remain so through the 2026 summer construction season. Vail Pass construction resumes in late April and runs through the fall, but this should be its last significant summer of impacts. 

Despite all the construction, you can still stay informed. The tools for navigating all of it are better than they've ever been — COtrip.org, the COtrip Planner app, Twitter (X), and text alerts for both the Floyd Hill and Vail Pass projects (floydhill and vailpass to 21000, respectively) give real-time information before you leave the lot. Next winter, the construction will still be there, but hopefully it's also heading somewhere. In the meantime, do your snow dance, pray to Ullr, invest in snow tires, and see you out there.