Colorado commission approves $5 million for delayed I-70 Glenwood Canyon work
The funding is part of the commission’s fiscal 2026–27 budget actions, which also shift money to pavement preservation and add funding for a Pueblo-area signal project.
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The Colorado Transportation Commission approved $5 million from its Contingency Reserve for I-70 Glenwood Canyon Phase 8 and separately shifted about $6.1 million from the Maintenance Reserve Fund to pavement preservation for fiscal 2026–27. The commission approved both actions Oct. 15 in its budget resolutions.
The Phase 8 work was moved one season, from 2027 to 2028, to avoid overlapping with a planned full closure of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport from April to November 2027. The Colorado Department of Transportation’s October budget materials say the delay is expected to add about $5 million in inflation and cost escalation. The project covers I-70 in Garfield County and includes resurfacing, bridge and rail repairs, removal of debris from the 2021 Grizzly Creek Fire, and work in the Hanging Lake and No Name tunnels.
The $6.1 million pavement transfer repurposes unspent wildfire-mitigation funds for work such as crack sealing, chip sealing, mill-and-fill and concrete slab replacement.
The commission also approved a $660,000 increase to the budget for the Pueblo Area New Signals project, part of the state’s safety program. The increase would help award the project to the lowest bidder after bids came in higher than expected, primarily because of concrete aggregate and mobilization costs, CDOT said. The signal project increase is separate from the reserve transfers.