Before ... and after the highway

The highway though Glenwood Canyon began in the 1960's but was soon halted due to environmentalist protests. Work began on a new design that would minimize impact to the fragile canyon environment. The new design was approved in 1975, but again, construction was halted by protests until 1981. One major complication was the need to build a 4-lane highway without further destroying the canyon or disturbing the operations of the railroad. The solution: two separate tracks, one above the other. The final design included 40 bridges and viaducts, 3 tunnels and 15 miles of retaining walls. As many as 500 highway workers were employed in the canyon each day. A 12-mile section of road was finally completed in 1992. At a cost of $490 million, this was one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the US.... 40 times the average cost per mile predicted by the planners of the Interstate Highway system.