A controlled avalanche dropped 20 feet of snow on U.S. Highway 40 Tuesday morning closing the road for more than five hours.

More heavy snow in the high country has kept the avalanche danger high, and the Colorado Department of Transportation says its workers triggered the slide while they were doing avalanche reduction work.

Whether or not they intended to cover the highway or not seems uncertain. Reading CDOT's tweet leaves a bit of a question.

Av. control work this a.m. on US 40 resulted in a large slide which covered the road w 20 ft of snow. US 40 closed expect lengthy delay

I would hate to be the worker that said "oops," if it was accidental.

The highway between Empire and Winter Park reopened around 1:00PM. Avalanche danger in the backcountry remained high today in the central and northern Colorado mountains.

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