Seventy cars every minute.
That’s about how many vehicles drove I-70 through Summit County in the 5 o’clock hour on Friday, Feb. 27, during the busiest day since late September of last year.
When the day was done the CDOT traffic meter at the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels tallied nearly 47,000 vehicles, kicking off the busiest three days of ski season. Traffic hit 44,906 on Saturday and 44,669 on Sunday for a grand total of 136,565 vehicles in three days.
That was 2% percent more than the previous season-high of BLHA vehicles, from the weekend after New Year’s Eve, but 3% percent less than the same weekend last year, which was the second busiest of that season (behind a mid-March weekend).
Looking back on February weekends, it was the first month of ski season when total traffic outpaced last year. It wasn’t by much – 518,349 in 2026 vs. 513,905 in 2025 – and it wasn’t exactly apples to apples.
You can blame the snow, or lack thereof. There were no extended weekend closures at the tunnels this February, compared to multiple closures last year, including hours of stalled traffic over Presidents’ Day weekend.
I-70 traffic counts brought to you weekly by Dillon Ridge Liquors.