Colorado starts $4 million tree-cutting project on high-risk highways

Summer drives into Nederland, Boulder and Woodland Park are about to get slower: Colorado has started a $4 million emergency tree-cutting project on five high-risk highways, and active work zones will bring alternating one-lane traffic, flaggers and delays along routes many travelers use to reach mountain towns, trailheads and lodging.

The Colorado Department of Transportation said crews from VM West and Asplundh are working Mondays through Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and are expected to advance about three miles per day. The project is scheduled to run through the end of June, with additional corridors possible if funding allows and the work ending once the money is exhausted.

The five corridors are CO 119 from Mile Point 0 to 40, from US 6 in Clear Creek Canyon north to Nederland; CO 72 from Mile Point 10 to 53, through Coal Creek Canyon and Pinecliffe to Nederland and near Allenspark; CO 93 from Mile Point 7 to 10, between Golden and Boulder; CO 128 from Mile Point 1 to 3, near the junction with CO 93 west of Broomfield; and CO 67 from Mile Point 77 to 100, from the Woodland Park area north toward Westcreek. For road-trippers, that means the scenic-drive clock may run longer than expected, especially on weekend departures when mountain traffic is already heavy.

CDOT says the goal is to cut wildfire fuel before peak fire season, not after a roadside fire has already shut a corridor down. Jim Fox, CDOT’s deputy director of maintenance, said reducing fuel loads along highway corridors is critical to protecting infrastructure and the communities those roads serve. The agency had already been accelerating roadside mowing, brush clearing and vegetation treatment, then reallocated $12 million in unused snow and ice contingency funds to wildfire mitigation in March. CDOT said it is targeting trees within 15 feet of the right of way that are 50% or more dead or diseased and is using burn-probability maps from the Colorado State Forest Service to focus the work where the danger is highest.

That urgency tracks with Colorado’s broader preparedness push. State leaders presented the 2026 Wildfire Preparedness Plan to Governor Jared Polis on April 30, and Colorado officials have also pointed to the 2013 Front Range flood, which caused nine deaths, more than $4 billion in damage and more than $750 million in emergency repairs to the state highway system alone. For summer travelers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the mountain corridors are being worked now so they are less likely to disappear later.