After several hours of closures on I-70 from Golden to Vail Saturday evening, the interstate is now open.
Crews prepping to do a staged release on WB I-70 at Morrison Road. A plow will escort motorists through closure point. pic.twitter.com/okFj7DWXOZ
Earlier Saturday evening, Colorado Department of Transportation reported, "I-70 is closed westbound at Morrison Road. Eastbound still closed at Silverthorne. Blowing snow has caused visibility to be at only five feet. Eisenhower Johnson Memorial Tunnels have lost power so there is currently no control over the lights on the highway, digital message boards and they are having difficulty connecting to radios with crews on the ground. They're working via cellphone to connect with our traffic operations center in Golden to get digital messages on the highway. Snow is currently falling faster than it's possible for our plows to keep up," in a series of tweets.
By 10 p.m. power was restored at the tunnels and around midnight I-70 started to open.
The Town of Vail opened a shelter for stranded drivers at its government building located at 75 S. Frontage Rd. W.
Check the 9NEWS traffic map before you hit the road.
9NEWS Meteorologist Danielle Grant says there will light snow Saturday evening across the Denver Metro Area. A quick 1 to 3 inches could stack up in Northern Colorado, with up to an inch in Denver. This storm moves out overnight, and calm, dry conditions return Christmas Eve.
