All lanes of Interstate 70 have reopened hours after a fiery, fatal crash involving multiple vehicles snarled traffic in the mountains.
Colorado State Patrol said as of 5:15 p.m., all westbound lanes of I-70 and U.S. 40 are now open following earlier closures.
“Please continue to drive safely as traffic returns to normal flow,” the agency said.
Vehicles traveling westbound on Interstate 70 out of metro Denver were being forced to turn around at the Beaver Brook exit near Floyd Hill and where U.S. 6 joins with I-70 after a fatal crash earlier this afternoon, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The Colorado State Patrol initially strongly encouraged motorists to avoid heading westbound on Interstate 70 or traveling southbound on U.S. 285 after the crash.
Those trying to slip by the main roadblock via U.S. 6 were also rerouted once they reached I-70.
I-70 was closed in both directions just after 1 p.m. Thursday between Exit 205 at Dillon and Silverthorne and Exit 216 at Loveland Pass because of a fatal multi-vehicle crash that resulted in a fire, authorities said.
A crash between a 2021 RAM hauling a trailer and a Freightliner semi-truck, also hauling a trailer, sparked a severe vehicle fire on I-70 west at mile marker 218 and resulted in the death of an occupant and a dog traveling in the RAM truck, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
The closure couldn’t come at a worse time as thousands of metro Denver residents head up to the mountains to celebrate Independence Day.
The Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel averages about 32,000 vehicles a day. But that number spikes to more than 50,000 during the weekends surrounding July 4. This year, the holiday creates the potential for a three-day weekend.
This is a developing story that may be updated.
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Originally Published: July 3, 2025 at 2:02 PM MDT