Colorado Travel Information

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald picture example

The cellular form of the Colorado Department of Transportation road circumstances internet site is normally examined by tourists across Colorado roadways.

Some cold weather storms that dumped as much as 6 foot of snowfall over four times when you look at the San Juan Mountains led to a number of road closures in the area, but obtaining up-to-date information of the closures proved hard during blizzard.

The Colorado Department of Transportation keeps several aware systems to give drivers timely changes on roadway problems and closures throughout the state, including a travel-information phone number (511), electric signs quietly for the road, a webpage with real-time information, and e-mail, text and social media marketing notifications.

But matching all those methods could be challenging, said CDOT spokeswoman Nancy Shanks. With a large violent storm, breakdowns in communication may appear, and people often get unclear or contradictory information, she stated.

“CDOT definitely can get things incorrect, ” she said. “We must be a well-oiled machine. There is a large number of men and women working with many information. We surely make an effort to obtain it appropriate.”

Final week’s storms led to several periodic closures on Coal Bank and Molas passes, between Durango and Silverton, as well as Red hill Pass, between Silverton and Ouray. Typically, 2, 300 cars travel over Red Mountain Pass each day, but that number is far lower during the winter months. A road-side indication near Durango said Coal Bank and Molas passes had been open Christmas evening, but a webcam image showed traffic ended on base of Coal Bank Pass.

Likewise, Coal Bank and Molas passes were shut briefly Sunday morning although the company did avalanche blasting. Nevertheless passes were never considered shut; instead, traffic ended up being ended quickly allowing avalanche work.

“When we do control assist spot closures, whenever we think it's going to be long it will probably definitely increase on the signs: ‘Control work, expect delays, ’” Shanks said. “however the alerts are reserved for big time – the full-closures – you-can’t-get-there form of emails.”

Some of the confusion could be semantics.

Tweets sent by the highway department stated “closed” for avalanche control work, however those are not uploaded on road indications or CoTrip.org because they’re perhaps not considered full closures.

“If we’re not completely closing a road, it won’t always be published on CoTrip, ” Shanks stated. “They might be stopped for a half hour.”

The company hinges on road crews to relay information, which can be then given through certainly one of three control centers across the state. The control facilities have the ability to upgrade web pages, send notifications and change road indications.

Snowplow motorists and crew supervisors act as as communicative as you are able to, but they generally have to deal with the problem on a lawn before they are able to transfer information. However it should never take hours for roadway closing information become communicated towards general public.

What’s more, occasionally numerous regional companies decide to shut down a roadway, as was the situation Wednesday on U.S. Highway 160 between Three Springs and Farmington Hill and an area of U.S. Highway 550 from 38th Street to County path 203. If those agencies don’t inform their state highway department, they're going unreported. In addition, agencies don’t constantly discover how long a road may be closed. Should they anticipate a quick closure, they may not notify CDOT, Shanks stated.

Tommy Wipf, who has got lived-in Silverton for 40 many years, praised CDOT because of its speed and efficiency at keeping hill passes during the cold winter. Wipf, whom works at Silverton Chamber of Commerce, stated there’s no road he’d instead travel aside from U.S. Highway 550 during the cold winter.

“They’ve first got it basically nailed down, ” he said. “They don’t keep consitently the road shut for more than they should.”