 The freeway was finally completed on October 14 , 1992 , in a ceremony covered nationwide . Most coverage celebrated the engineering achievement or noted this was the last major piece of the Interstate Highway System to open to traffic . However , newspapers in western Colorado celebrated the end of the frustrating traffic delays . For most of the final 10 years of construction , only a single lane of traffic that reversed direction every 30 minutes remained open in the canyon . One newspaper proudly proclaimed " You heard right . For the first time in more than 10 years , construction delays along that 12 @-@ mile ( 19 km ) stretch of Interstate 70 will be non @-@ existent . " 
