Skip to main content

Colorado tunnels get funds for fire suppression system

The Colorado Transportation Commission has approved US$10 million to retrofit a fixed fire suppression system in the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels (EJMT) because there is no way for fire-fighters to safely and effectively respond to a fire. Located around 60 miles west of Denver, at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet, the EJMT is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world and carries an average of approximately 30,000 vehicles per day, or over ten million vehicles per year. Once the fire suppr
October 28, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The Colorado Transportation Commission has approved US$10 million to retrofit a fixed fire suppression system in the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels (EJMT) because there is no way for fire-fighters to safely and effectively respond to a fire.

Located around 60 miles west of Denver, at an elevation of more than 11,000 feet, the EJMT is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world and carries an average of approximately 30,000 vehicles per day, or over ten million vehicles per year.

Once the fire suppression system is in place, it would not be used to extinguish vehicle fires on its own, but to keep the fire cool enough to buy fire-fighters enough time to move the vehicle out of the tunnel before the flames become too hot.

Related Content

  • July 26, 2021
    Birmingham CAZ is green for go
    For urban authorities worldwide, the health of residents is racing up the political agenda. Ben Spencer looks at how one city - Birmingham, UK - has established its own Clean Air Zone and is investing in alternative-fuel vehicles and public transport incentives
  • April 16, 2018
    MaaS is at the ‘baby steps’ stage – but needs to get up and running soon
    Data sharing between organisations remains a potential problem for Mobility as a Service projects, attendees at February's MaaS Market conference in London were told. Alan Dron listens in on the presentations.
  • January 30, 2012
    Managed motorways, hard shoulder running aids safety, saves time
    The announcement that, in 2012/13, work to extend Managed Motorways to Junctions 5-8 of the M6 near Birmingham in the West Midlands is scheduled to start marks the next step for the UK's hard shoulder running concept, first introduced on the M42 in 2006. The M6 scheme is in fact one of several announced; over the next few years work will start on applying Managed Motorways to various sections of the M1, M25 London Orbital, M60 and M62. According to Paul Unwin, senior project manager with the Highways Agency
  • April 30, 2015
    Cable cars come of age in trans-continental expansion
    David Crawford explores a high-level option of public transport. Sharing its origin with that of ski lifts at winter sports resorts in the European Alps, urban aerial cable transport is attracting growing interest as a low-footprint, low-energy alternative to conventional public transport that can swoop over ground-level traffic congestion.