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WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A massive pothole on I-70 will be turning into a massive headache for drivers during the next week and could force some to alter their Thanksgiving holiday travel routes.

The area of concern is on I-70 eastbound in Wheat Ridge. CDOT has started an emergency resurfacing project on the bridge over 32nd Ave. The work is expected to last until Wednesday, November 26th.

One lane of traffic will remain open in the area and crews will be working to resurface the area around the clock but, with two lanes closed, CDOT is encouraging drivers to avoid the area.

Dick Swanson was among the many drivers who got caught in the backup on eastbound I-70 Wednesday night.

“Stop and go all the way,” Swanson said. “Quite a wait. Probably about an hour or so.”

“It’s really bad,” said Butch Cyr, who lives nearby.

Cyr and other commuters say the overpasses in the area have been bad for a while.

“There’s about four of them here and then a couple down by Wadsworth that have just been deteriorating and falling apart,” Cyr said. “I’ve wrecked a couple of wheels.”

According to CDOT the bridge was targeted for resurfacing as part of a $1.9 million project slated to begin in the spring of 2015, but they are now moving up the work due to the large pothole that opened up.

“We just need to address it as soon as possible,” said CDOT spokesperson Emily Wilfong.

Though the resurfacing can’t wait, Wilfong knows the work could force some people to find new routes for their Thanksgiving travel.

“What we’d like folks to do is to avoid that area if possible because we will be reduced to one lane,” Wilfong siad. “What we’re suggesting is that they exit at 6th Avenue and use I-25 North to get back on to I-70, especially if they are traveling to DIA.”

That information came too late for Dick Swanson and his wife, but they still consider themselves lucky.

“We happen to be heading out of town, so we won’t be there (for the construction),” Swanson said. “We’re going out of town for the holidays.”​

CDOT also plans to resurface the westbound lanes of the same I-70 overpass, but that project will wait until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

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