DENVER — A convoy of heavy construction equipment crept over a high-elevation highway through Rocky Mountain National Park on Wednesday to join a massive road rebuilding project after the Colorado floods.

The damage to state highways alone is about $430 million, officials said, with 200 miles of roads and 50 bridges destroyed.

The flooding also caused eight confirmed deaths and damaged or destroyed nearly 1,800 homes.

Trail Ridge Road was closed to other vehicles to make way for the slow-moving convoy traveling from Grand County on the west side of the park to the town of Estes Park at the eastern entrance of the park.

Sections of the twisting two-lane road are more than 12,000 feet above sea level and traverse steep slopes with breathtaking drop-offs. It is one of only two routes into Estes Park that survived the floods.

The road reopened at midday Wednesday after the convoy finished the trek. State and local highway crews and construction companies are rushing to make temporary repairs to flood-damaged roadways, hoping to get key roads open by Dec. 1, before winter sets in.

Complete damage figures weren't available. But preliminary estimates put the initial cost of fixing public infrastructure at more than $760 million.

Meanwhile, regulators were monitoring spills in an oilfield northeast of Denver. At least 34,500 gallons had spilled in 11 incidents.