A series of winter storms that dumped up to 6 feet of snow over four days in the San Juan Mountains led to several road closures in the region, but receiving up-to-date information of those closures proved difficult during the blizzard.
The Colorado Department of Transportation maintains several alert systems to give drivers timely updates on road conditions and closures throughout the state, including a travel-information phone number (511), electric signs on the side of the road, a website with real-time information, and email, text and social media notifications.
But coordinating all the systems can be tricky, said CDOT spokeswoman Nancy Shanks. With a big storm, breakdowns in communication can occur, and travelers sometimes receive unclear or contradictory information, she said.
“CDOT certainly can get things wrong,” she said. “We need to be a well-oiled machine. There are a lot of people dealing with a lot of information. We definitely strive to get it right.”
Last week’s storms led to several intermittent closures on Coal Bank and Molas passes, between Durango and Silverton, as well as Red Mountain Pass, between Silverton and Ouray. On average, 2,300 vehicles travel over Red Mountain Pass daily, but that number is far lower during the winter months. A road-side sign near Durango said Coal Bank and Molas passes were open Christmas night, but a webcam image showed traffic stopped at the base of Coal Bank Pass.
Similarly, Coal Bank and Molas passes were closed briefly Sunday morning while the agency did avalanche blasting. But the passes were never considered closed; rather, traffic was stopped briefly to allow avalanche work.
“When we do control work with spot closures, if we think it’s going to be lengthy it will certainly go up on the signs: ‘Control work, expect delays,’” Shanks said. “But the alerts are reserved for the big time – the full-closures – you-can’t-get-there type of messages.”
Some of the confusion may be semantics.
Tweets sent by the highway department said “closed” for avalanche control work, yet those aren’t posted on road signs or CoTrip.org because they’re not considered full closures.
“If we’re not fully closing a road, it won’t necessarily be posted on CoTrip,” Shanks said. “They might be stopped for a half hour.”
The agency relies on road crews to relay information, which is then fed through one of three control centers across the state. The control centers have the ability to update websites, send notifications and change road signs.
Snowplow drivers and crew supervisors try to be as communicative as possible, but sometimes they have to deal with the situation on the ground before they can transmit information. But it should never take hours for road closure information to be communicated to the public.
What’s more, sometimes multiple local agencies decide to shut down a road, as was the case Wednesday on U.S. Highway 160 between Three Springs and Farmington Hill and a section of U.S. Highway 550 from 38th Street to County Road 203. If those agencies don’t notify the state highway department, they go unreported. Also, agencies don’t always know how long a road will be closed. If they expect a short closure, they may not notify CDOT, Shanks said.
Tommy Wipf, who has lived in Silverton for 40 years, praised CDOT for its speed and efficiency at maintaining mountain passes during the winter. Wipf, who works at the Silverton Chamber of Commerce, said there’s no road he’d rather travel other than U.S. Highway 550 during the winter.
“They’ve got it pretty much nailed down,” he said. “They don’t keep the road closed for any longer than they have to.”
But how is the agency at relaying road-closure information?
“They may not get it on CoTrip immediately, but it will get there,” he said. “And the 511 number is the same way.”
