Who says government works too slowly?

Gov. Jared Polis announced Tuesday that $11.6 million, 10% of what the state has estimated it will cost to fix Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon, is already on its way, one day after Polis submitted a letter to the Secretary of Transportation, requesting the funding.

The Federal Highway Administration has an expedited process for emergencies such as the damage caused to I-70 by mudslides, the most recent on July 29 that shut the highway down. It has yet to be reopened, although the Colorado Department of Transportation said on Tuesday that crews hauled out another 2,500 tons of debris on Monday. That brings the total debris removed to almost 8,000 tons, or nearly 16 million pounds of rocks, trees and mud. 

Once the debris is cleared, CDOT hopes to place 60 “supersacks,” or bags of bedding sand, to the north of the roadway to help protect against future debris flows.

With much of the debris removed, CDOT engineering teams are now able to conduct in-depth assessments of roadway damage. According to a statement Tuesday, “CDOT believes that the roadway infrastructure can accommodate reopening westbound I-70 to one lane after additional slide material is removed and temporary barriers, rockfall protection and other roadway safety devices are installed to safely temporarily re-open westbound with lane restrictions. This confirmation will help expedite the temporary westbound I-70 reopening timeline.”

Eastbound traffic, which will also be one lane, is on hold while 100 feet of roadway embankment and temporary asphalt are reconstructed. 

Polis’ letter to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack was backed by all nine members of Colorado’s congressional delegation. 

“We are thrilled to have such close coordination with our federal partners to ensure federal resources are quickly on their way to Colorado,” Polis said Tuesday. “Crews and staff across state government are working in all-hands-on-deck mode to deal with the devastating damage to Glenwood Canyon and I-70, and having the same level of support from federal partners at the Federal Highway Administration ensures we can keep working at a rapid pace to restore this economic and recreation highway.”

“CDOT’s maintenance teams have made great progress in recovery operations, allowing our engineers to make similar strides in developing a plan to reopen I-70,” according to CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew. “Thanks to the fast and strong support of our federal delegation as well as the backing of FHWA, CDOT can continue to work quickly with the assurance that resources will remain available. I want to add a special thanks to FHWA Colorado Division staff who have provided technical support throughout this incident and helped smooth the process to help deliver this quick support.”

The total request of $116 million would cover:

• Debris removal costs (includes maintenance staff costs): $4 million
• Impacts to existing State Highway alternate routes (as a result of I-70 closure) costs: $10 million. This would include examining a detour that would require paving Cottonwood Pass Road, south of Gypsum. The total cost for that project is estimated at $50 million, according to CDOT.
• Supplemental traffic control services (contractor) costs: $1 million
• Visible damage estimates caused by event damage or debris removal hauling costs: $20 million
• Assumed damage repair estimates (non-visible) costs: $20 million
• Potential geohazard mitigation at several locations: $5 million
• Construction Management and Construction Engineering costs: $5 million
• Future Resiliency & Redundancy Study costs: $50 million
• CDOT administration (non-maintenance staff) costs: $1 million