In brief: Boulder removal closes interstate

Georgetown, Colo. – A 25-mile stretch of Colorado’s main east-west highway was shut down Tuesday so crews tethered to a mountainside by ropes could pry loose unstable boulders threatening to tumble onto traffic 300 feet below.

Crews removed dozens of boulders – a few 5 to 10 feet wide – from the mountainside above Interstate 70 before reopening the highway shortly before 5 p.m.

Falling boulders killed two people on I-70 near Georgetown in 1999.

The state transportation department has spent about $9 million to date on preventing rockslides in the area, agency spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.

Engineers have draped huge steel mesh curtains to rein in boulders on some slopes, and built retaining walls to keep falling rocks off I-70. On rare occasions, they close the highway so crews can dislodge unstable rocks without threatening traffic.

Bodies found in rubble at plant

Gatlinburg, Tenn. – Crews on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two workers from the rubble of a wastewater-treatment plant wall that collapsed earlier in the day, while officials continued to investigate what caused the breach that released sewage into a rain-swollen river at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The holding tank wall collapsed about 9 a.m. at the plant in the tourist town of Gatlinburg near the Little Pigeon River. Crews used jackhammers and heavy equipment to dig through the collapsed wall, and at 5:30 p.m. Gatlinburg’s fire chief announced that they had recovered the bodies of John Eslinger, 53, and Don Storey, 44, both of the Sevierville area.

A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman said that a mix of storm water and wastewater, but not solid waste, was continuing to flow directly into the river.