Assessing the Impacts of Evolving Rockfall Hazard Due to Hypothetical Variations in Weather Patterns on Colorado's Transportation Network

Geohazards present a substantial risk to Colorado’s transportation network. Hazard events regularly lead to maintenance and hazard management costs incurred directly by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), as well as indirect user costs due to mobility impacts. In extreme cases, geohazards can cause extended closures of key routes through the mountains (e.g. I-70) can occur where users experience lengthy detours and commerce can be greatly impacted in small mountain communities. CDOT’s system resilience is significantly impacted by rockfall events, and the potential for these events to become more common and/or severe in parts of Colorado as a function of evolving weather patterns represents a major source of uncertainty regarding the future performance of the state’s transportation network. To understand the influence of weather patterns on rockfall in the Colorado context requires dedicated consideration of the evolution of the state’s weather and rockfall patterns.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $150,000.00
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Applied Research and Innovation Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204
• Project Managers:

  Tran, Thien

• Start Date: 20250804
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disaster resilience; Highway safety; Risk assessment; Rockfalls; Weather conditions
• Geographic Terms: Colorado
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01971458
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Colorado Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Nov 18 2025 8:02AM