The Interstate 70 mountain Express Lanes will open for longer hours around Thanksgiving and Christmas to accommodate the expected busy holiday travel.

Gov. Jared Polis in a Monday letter requested the Colorado Transportation Investment Office, the CDOT division that owns and operates state express lanes, to open the express lanes through the mountain to provide drivers more choices during the holidays, CDOT said in a news release.

“The public invested significant dollars to build these lanes, and as a matter of public trust, we need to make sure they are open when people need them,” Polis said in the letter. “This means weekends, holiday weeks, peak tourism seasons and the like. These extra lanes should be available as options to Coloradans and visitors who want to get out of traffic and choose to pay to use them, which also reduces traffic in the free lanes.”

From Wednesday, Nov. 22, to Sunday, Nov. 26, the westbound express lanes will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the eastbound lanes will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For Christmas travel, all the mountain express lanes will be open 24 hours per day from Saturday, Dec. 23, to New Year’s Day, Monday, Jan. 1.

A policy established with the Federal Highway Administration and local partners states the lanes, which are technically “peak period shoulder lanes,” can only be open a limited number of days per year: the eastbound lanes 100 days of the year, and the westbound lanes 125 days of the year.

The rest of the time, they operate as emergency shoulder lanes.

Polis also requested the agency revisit the number of days the lanes can be open and how the number can be increased to meet future needs.

Drivers can get the latest information on the status of the state’s roadways by checking COtrip.org or calling 511.

Specific information regarding Interstate 70 is available at: GoI70.com.

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