With up to a foot of fresh snow on the way, it is shaping up to be a busy Presidents’ Day weekend in Colorado’s High Country. The holiday consistently ranks as one of the busiest winter weekends based on traffic counts and occupancy rates for lodging.

What to expect from I-70 traffic

In 2024, Presidents’ Day was the second busiest holiday weekend of the year for Interstate 70’s mountain corridor, trailing behind Labor Day, according to traffic counts from the Colorado Department of Transportation. 

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Last year, westbound traffic peaked Friday on I-70 at the Eisenhower Tunnel around 1 p.m. and continued through 6 p.m., with over 28,000 cars traveling west that day, CDOT records show.

As the weekend wraps up, Austyn Dineen, a spokesperson for CDOT, said the holiday creates “‘two Sundays’ as we are likely to have a normal Sunday return and a Monday return.” 

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Last year, over 27,000 cars traveled eastbound on Monday and over 25,000 on Sunday. The highest volumes hit eastbound I-70 at the Johnson Tunnel on Monday at 10 a.m. and continued through 3 p.m. 

Travelers can expect similar conditions heading up I-70 this year. 

“With a foot of fresh snow forecasted along the I-70 Mountain Corridor and lots of folks having a holiday weekend, demand will be high, add poor driving conditions and congestion and delay is likely to be high,” Dineen said. 

The I-70 Coalition’s travel forecast warns of light westbound traffic starting as early as 7 a.m. on Friday, and getting heavier from 3-9:30 p.m. that evening. It’s forecasted that delays could reach up to 45 minutes or more depending on weather and road conditions. 

Saturday is expected to also see high volumes, with the coalition forecasting traffic starting as early as 5:30 a.m., parking around 7 a.m., and going through 1 p.m. The report estimates that delays could add an extra hour of travel time from Colorado Highway 470 to Silverthorne. 

As travelers head back to the Front Range, the coalition expects traffic to build eastbound on I-70

starting at 10 a.m. on both Sunday and Monday, lasting through 7 p.m. With this volume, the coalition anticipates that metering at the Johnson Tunnel could add time to the drive. 

To avoid delays heading east, the coalition recommends starting the drive before 10 a.m. or after 6:30 p.m.  

“The last three years on (Monday), the delays were, surprisingly, only 50 minutes. If winter weather moves in, delays will be more significant,” the coalition’s forecast stated.

While a busy weekend for the roadways, Presidents’ Day is a “lesser holiday in the pantheon of Colorado travel holidays,” according to Skyler McKinley, a Colorado spokesperson for AAA.

“While it’s a boon for those of us in the High-country hospitality industry, and while we see a greater representation of Colorado travelers among total High-country travelers, these shorter, mid-winter weekends don’t tend to draw as many out-of-state travelers as your longer, end-of-year-style periods where folks get more time off,” McKinley said, adding that summer always tends to be busier than winter. 

As with the roadways, while travel tends to be the busiest on Friday and Monday afternoons for three-day winter holiday weekends, McKinley said more travelers are opting for Thursday and Tuesday travel days as remote and hybrid work remains popular. 

“Whether you’re waiting in a long airport security line or stuck in traffic heading in either direction to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel, the lesson is the same: Remember, you can’t be mad at traffic — you are traffic,” McKinley said. 

What to expect at hotels 

Tom Foley, vice president of business analytics for Inntopia, said that this Presidents’ Day weekend is “shaping up to be strong” for both the lodging industry as a whole and for Colorado resort communities. 

The holiday weekend is typically the second strongest winter holiday weekend in terms of occupancy, Foley said. 

“While room rates are about flat to last year, occupancy on the books as of Jan. 31 is looking very positive,” Foley said, adding that around this time last year, there was consumer pushback on room rate growth and snowfall began to slow. 

“That said – and taking those two factors from last year out of the equation – February and Presidents’ (Day weekend) have been pacing pretty well in the weeks leading up to this weekend, so it’s not all because of some softness last year,” he said. 

What to expect from the weather 

Any expectations for travel conditions could shift as Colorado’s mountains prepare for its next winter storm. According to the U.S. National Weather Service Grand Junction, snow will begin to fall Thursday night and continue through Saturday night. 

Joel Gratz, the founding meteorologist of OpenSnow, reports that the storm could bring between 10- 20 inches of snow to most Colorado resorts, and push closer to 30 inches in some spots in the central and southern mountains. 

“Both Friday and Saturday will offer powder, though there are some nuances about which mountains could be deepest on each day,” wrote Gratz in his Thursday blog post.

Gratz reports that the storm will favor the southern mountains on Friday morning and afternoon, with more snow falling in the central and northern mountains starting midday. On Saturday, snow will fall heaviest in the northern mountains, central mountains, and areas near Telluride and Silverton, he added.