Featured Image: Courtesy of CDOT
Last weekend on June 15, a large landslide covered U.S. Highway 6 on Colorado’s Loveland Pass in 15 – 20 feet of rock and snow. Colorado Department of Transportation crews got to work on the mess and have quickly reopened the iconic route. This was no small undertaking, utilizing seven tandem dump trucks continually hauling 92 tons of mud and silt down from the accident site at 12,000 feet.
The initial landslide occurred in the early hours of the day, around 5:30 AM, and luckily, nobody was injured. Videos in the following hours captured additional parts of the land crumbling into the newly formed crater above a section of road known as Scottys Curves at mile point 226. The incident occurred on Arapahoe Basin’s 2025 closing day, forcing Front Range skiers to head through the Eisenhower Tunnel and up the backside of the pass through Keystone.
Loveland Pass is a crucial piece of infrastructure for multiple reasons. It’s a heavily trafficked recreation area at all times of the year, especially during June, as the snow melts and people look to explore the high alpine tundra along the Continental Divide accessible from the pass.
But this wasn’t the only reason CDOT crews hustled to open the road. Highway 6 serves as an alternate route for vehicles carrying large payloads of hazardous material that are not normally allowed to travel through the enclosed Eisenhower Tunnel. In the days following the slide, trucks were diverted through the tunnel, with other traffic being held up for safety reasons. This large delay in traffic was unsustainable, and thus put extra pressure on the state to get Loveland Pass operational.
“I am incredibly proud of our team’s swift and dedicated work to safely reopen Loveland Pass after the recent landslide,” said CDOT Denver Metro transportation director Jessica Myklebust. “Our crews’ expertise and tireless efforts ensured that we could restore access through this vital mountain corridor as quickly as possible, demonstrating our commitment to keeping Colorado’s roadways safe and open.”
