If you have ever been to Vail, Colorado, you know that the I-70 runs right through it. This busy, especially loud highway runs directly through the middle of Vail, serving as both a divider and a constant noise polluter for the people and guests who visit. Although it serves as an easy connection to the town and the resort that sits before it, many plans have been schemed up over the years to divert the I-70 around Vail, or in this case, under it — and the most ambitious Vail I-70 tunnel proposal would have cost up to $6 billion.
The Eisenhower Tunnel: A Precedent on the I-70 Corridor
Big tunnel projects have been completed along the I-70 before. Take, for example, the Eisenhower Tunnel, which you are required to take to get to Vail when coming from Denver, which is a 1.7-mile (2.74km) long tunnel that sits at 11,155 feet (3,400 meters) above sea level, making it the highest road tunnel in North America, and the highest point on the entire US Interstate Highway System.
Inside the Proposed 9-Mile Vail I-70 Tunnel
But the proposed Vail tunnel back in 2005 would have dwarfed that. At 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) long, it would be more than five times longer than the Eisenhower Tunnel and would still sit at over 8,000 feet (2,500 meters) above sea level. This would also make it the longest road tunnel in North America.
The Staggering Scale of Excavation
As Denver 7 reported, to complete this tunnel, an estimated 492,000 truckloads of dirt and rock would need to be excavated, equivalent to 375 truckloads a day for four years straight.
Why Vail Wanted I-70 Gone
Although this project may seem insane, there was a good reason to propose it. Currently, the I-70 that runs through Vail occupies a tremendous amount of space in the community, with a value of hundreds of millions of dollars if developed. Another issue that would be entirely resolved is the current noise problem caused by I-70. A Colorado Department of Transportation noise study from 2000 found that roughly one in four Vail homes was exposed to traffic noise above the 66-decibel threshold at which the state requires noise abatement measures.
Why the $6 Billion Project Never Happened
At an estimated cost of up to 6 billion dollars, you can understand why this project never went through, never mind the potential environmental and engineering challenges that would have had to be overcome. Still, nonetheless, the proposed tunnel remains an interesting footnote in the history of Vail.
