© Andy Cross, The Denver PostColorado Department of Transportation project engineers, Joe Elsen, fourth from left, and Matt Figgs, far right, offer hikers from left to right, Marlowe Kent, Lauren Jerd, and Shane O'Donnell, a safe, private look at large sinkhole Friday morning, July 13th, 2012 that opened up on highway 24 at mile marker 165, between Red Cliff and Leadville Colorado on Monday.
The hole leads down to an old railroad tunnel, which is causing concerns that the highway above the tunnel could fall into the hole.
A section of the highway near the top of Tennessee Pass is closed indefinitely because of the hole.
"Closing a highway is absolutely something we hate to do. We want to keep it open. So we are working very hard to come up with a plan to get it open," Stacy Stegman of the Colorado Department of Transportation said.
CDOT has rerouted traffic to Colorado 91 and Interstate 70. These detours could add time to driver's commute.
"We are putting every resource into getting this open," Stegman said.
Stegman said there are still a lot of questions to be answered because of the history involved with the tunnel. CDOT is going through old records to try and get a better handle on the situation.
The sink hole is 30-feet wide and 100-feet deep. Stegman said they are looking to go into an emergency contracting procedure to help repair the hole.
"We are hoping to get someone on board early next week," Stegman said.
Katie Spencer contributed to this report.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter