Below are videos shot on a tour of the Independence Pass Transmountain Diversion System. The videos show two Ford Explorers from the Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Company driving through the four mile long tunnel that takes water from the west side of the Continental Divide (Roaring Fork drainage) to the east side (Arkansas drainage). Grizzly Reservoir caretakers use the tunnel to access Grizzly Reservoir in the winter when Independence Pass is closed. Obviously there is no public access to these tunnels but the videos give you an idea of the tunnels. Files are all large in size.
Driving in the tunnel headed east.MOV
Exiting the east portal.MOV
Entering the east portal.MOV
Exiting the west portal.MOV
The Independence Pass Transmountain Diversion System (Twin Lakes) collects water from a 45 square mile area of the Upper Roaring Fork River Subwatershed. Diversion structures move water from the Roaring Fork River, Lost Man Creek, Lincoln Creek, Brooklyn Creek, Tabor Creek, New York Creek and Grizzly Creek through the Twin Lake Tunnel to the Arkansas Basin. The project currently diverts 38,000 acre feet of water but has water rights to take as much as 46,000 acre feet annually.
