In the meantime, drivers have been finding other ways around the area. For some, Independence Pass (Colorado 82) has been an option. Pictures on social media show a packed road in both directions.

On Wednesday, however, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office sent out a tweet saying the road was closed due to a mudslide. Given the state’s serious wildfires last year and heavy rains this year, the notification didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

Another tweet sent out 11 minutes later reiterated the fact that there was a mudslide and encouraging people to find an alternate route.

CDOT’s website was also updated to reflect the road closure, blaming it on a mudslide in the area. Google, Apple and other GPS mapping systems were subsequently notified by the agency that the road was closed and started routing traffic around the pass.

In reality, there was no mudslide, and the road was not closed off.

More than an hour after sending out the first tweet about the mudslide, the sheriff’s office changed courses, saying in a tweet the road is shown as closed on the state’s website and various GPS systems, “to prevent I-70 detour traffic from being routed onto that rural, challenging mountain highway with limited cell service.”

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Shouldn't the thread title say "County Sheriff" instead of CDOT?


Seems from the article that CDOT was relying on others to provide the information they used to update the website.

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In the video they have copies of CDOT emails that indicate that CDOT was straight-up lying.