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Boulder the size of a building blocks Colorado highway

Posted at 1:36 PM, May 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-25 15:36:02-04

(CNN) — A road in Colorado is closed indefinitely due to a massive rock slide that produced two boulders large enough to wipe out a significant portion of the pavement.

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the boulders struck Colorado 145 on Friday between Cortez and Telluride. The slide included dirt and other rocks. The two huge boulders destroyed the full width of the highway pavement, leaving a trench about 8 feet deep across both lanes. The road is impassable, the department said.

One of the boulders remains embedded on the highway, according to the Colorado DOT, which described it as the size of a building and said it will have to be blasted into smaller pieces before being moved off the highway.

“A geo-technical team, equipment and supplies are being mobilized to the site, but it is not known when the road can be re-opened,” the department said in a post on Facebook.