Every day, tens of thousands of drivers pass through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels on Interstate 70.
Especially during snowstorms, the tunnels, which are located at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, can become a pinch point on the mountain corridor due to the steep grades on either side.
But the Colorado Department of Transportation recently invested $12 million to upgrade its operations center on the west end of the tunnels with the goal of preventing 鈥� or at least shortening 鈥� the notorious slow-downs and closures there.
鈥淗opefully, this technology will keep the main corridor open longer (because) we can respond quicker,鈥� CDOT Deputy Director of Operations Bob Fifer said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the key, responding quicker. So using technology 鈥� faster, quicker, better.鈥�
For every hour that the I-70 mountain corridor is closed, the transportation department estimates that the state鈥檚 economy takes an almost $2 million hit. The tunnels cross the Continental Divide, traverse steep mountains and are flanked by avalanche paths, making winter a formidable opponent.
That鈥檚 where the recent upgrades come in. The facility on the west side of the tunnel now hosts a new operations center decked out with high-tech cameras and screens, living quarters for staff to overnight in the mountains during winter storms, and an improved storage and maintenance bays for plows 鈥� all in an effort to keep the highway open and get travelers to their destinations this winter.
There are now 117 cameras in and around the tunnel, Fifer said. In an effort to maintain safety on the interstate, the camera technology at the operations center, which was finalized in January, can zoom in on an object as small as a nail on the roadway up to 2 miles away, he said.
鈥淭his is our effort to try to keep the roads open all the time,鈥� Fifer said. 鈥�(We) not only monitor these roads, but how do we communicate what is happening on the road? It鈥檚 by leveraging things like COTrip.org or using the COTrip Planner app and being able to get real-time information. These operators, when they type something in and commit it into our system, it is immediately on our website and it is immediately on those apps.鈥�
The Eisenhower Tunnel opened to traffic in 1973 and the Johnson Tunnel opened in 1979 鈥� but in the 50 years since then, traffic along the I-70 mountain corridor has increased dramatically, Fifer said. The upgrades at the tunnel included replacing decades-old copper wires and installing fiber optic cables.
For decades, the transportation department had an operations center based in the tunnels themselves but the technology facility was 鈥渁rchaic鈥� and made of concrete, so it was cold inside and didn鈥檛 have the best working conditions, Fifer said. The old operations center now serves as a backup for the new facility, in case of an emergency like an avalanche interfering with operations at the new center, he said.
CDOT control room operator supervisor Travis Jeitz said that the new operations center is 鈥渁 night-and-day difference.鈥� It鈥檚 his and his team鈥檚 job to monitor for over-height vehicles, stopped vehicles in the tunnels and any other hazards.
鈥淭he working conditions in this facility are just significantly greater. It has improved our response,鈥� Jeitz said. 鈥淭hese guys don鈥檛 have to deal with the dust, the lack of heat and cleanliness of that old facility that was 50 years old.鈥�
The new operations center works in collaboration with a second operations center in Golden to ensure safety on I-70, Fifer said. From friction sensors to weather stations and 鈥渁valaunchers鈥� used to mitigate avalanches, the stretch of the I-70 mountain corridor near the tunnels is equipped with some of the world鈥檚 best technologies, which feed data directly to the operations center, according to CDOT.
But ultimately, safety on the roadway comes down to how people drive, Fifer said. So, drivers should respect the speed limit, keep their eyes off their phones and move over for emergency vehicles, he said.
鈥淏e courteous to other drivers, and let鈥檚 tone down the aggression on the driving,鈥� Fifer said. 鈥淭hat would help us keep the road up because when you create a crash, everyone鈥檚 impacted. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles can be impacted by one crash. So, if everyone can just calm down and just drive calmly 鈥� not like it鈥檚 a ski slope.鈥�
This story was made available via the Colorado 暗黑爆料 Collaborative.