The busiest five hours of summer hit I-70 at 10 a.m. Sunday.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. more than 24,000 cars traveled I-70 through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels, equal to 17% of all weekend traffic in just 7% of the weekend.
This past weekend was already one of the busiest since spring break with 140,055 cars in three days, Friday into Sunday. That is about equal to the population of Thornton on the road, and just barely slower than the previous weekend.
High times in July
History shows the mountain corridor is only warming up for the busiest weekends of the year. July 2024 saw more than 592,000 cars travel through Summit in 12 days on weekends only. That was 8% more than Mach 2024, the ski-season high.
The busiest month ever on I-70 was July 2021 with more than 640,000 cars in four weekends.
But July is not always the king of weekend congestion. In 2023 it was June with just under 600,000 cars.
Already this year four of six months have topped a half-million weekend travelers.
Still planning your July 4 in Summit County? See our list of parades, live music and races!