I-70 Closures Start Tonight
The Colorado Department of Transportation will begin a series of closures on Interstate 70 starting tonight. The agency will close the road in both directions at Idaho Springs from 9pm to 6am for the next four nights.
The closure may slow travelers either leaving the Roaring Fork Valley or heading this direction. Motorists will use the on and off ramps in both directions at Exit 240 to detour around the closure. CDOT is completing abutment work and initial girder setting for a new bridge over the Interstate.
The work was originally scheduled for last week, but winter storms postponed it. The agency is looking to take advantage of favorable weather this week to do the work. A CDOT official says the main goal of the closure is to ensure traffic is flowing freely during peak travel times. There may be some traffic delays.
Keep Your Four-Legged Friends Warm During the Cold Winter
Eagle County Animal Services is offering winter weather reminders for caring for pets. Yesterday, the agency released tips on how to keep animals safe.
Animal Services Operations Coordinator Christy Pope says Colorado mountain winters are simply too cold for most pets to be left outside for any length of time. Dogs and cats can freeze to death when left in cold temperatures.
Wind and precipitation can produce life threatening circumstances for pets. So, Eagle County suggests providing cold weather bedding like hay or a heavy blanket in dog houses and a heated water bowl.
Other tips include banging on the hood of your car or honking before starting the engine to make sure outdoor cats haven’t climbed onto the car engine seeking warmth. The county also suggests keeping antifreeze, coolant or windshield wiper fluid out of reach of pets and thoroughly cleaning any spills.
Aspen’s Lift 1A is Down
A well-known lift on the western end of Aspen Mountain is out of service. In an e-mail from ski co, the company says the Shadow Mountain lift, better known as Lift 1A, is out of commission due to a mechanical problem. The lift was built in the early 1970s and follows the same alignment as the first chairlift on Aspen Mountain from the 1940s. Ski co says all mountain access will go through the Silver Queen Gondola and the Little Nell chairlift while Lift 1A is down. The company needs to replace a broken gear and it could take about ten days to fix the lift.
Record Fees Paid to Operate Ski Areas
The fees ski areas pay to use public lands in the White River National Forest hit record highs in the 2013-2014 season. The Aspen Daily News reports $15.7 million was paid to the U.S. Forest Service during the 2014 fiscal year. That was up 17% or $2.3 million over the previous year. Ski-area payments are determined by several factors including chairlift capacity, percentage of public lands used, number of visitors and revenues. The Aspen Skiing Company paid more the two-million dollars for the first time ever to use almost 7,800 acres at its four ski areas. The highest payment was for Snowmass where $1.4 million covered almost 5,000 acres of public land. The increase in fees is another sign business in the 2013-2014 ski season was up compared to the previous year.
