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Colorado's New Traction Law Isn't Sticking For Some Drivers — Yet

State lawmakers passed a tougher traction law this year. But some drivers aren't in compliance as the first snowstorms hit the I-70 corridor.
Colorado Department of Transportation
State lawmakers passed a tougher traction law this year. But some drivers aren't in compliance as the first snowstorms hit the I-70 corridor.

A tougher set of winter traction rules passed by state lawmakers this year didn’t stop some drivers from getting stuck and snarling traffic on Interstate 70 for several hours Wednesday and Thursday.

Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Matt Inzeo said about 30 vehicles either got stuck or stopped on I-70 west of Morrison Wednesday night during a winter storm, prompting a lengthy closure.

About 90% of those vehicles weren’t in compliance with the new traction law, Inzeo said.

The State Patrol did not immediately write tickets to those drivers, he said. The priority was to get the interstate back open, a process that took several hours.

Due to accidents and slide offs, the state closed a westbound portion of the interstate starting at Morrison for seven hours, while the eastbound lanes were closed for four.

These are the type of closures state lawmakers were hoping to avoid when they passed a new law this year that requires all drivers to either have chains or adequate winter tires on the mountain stretch of I-70 from September to the end of May.

State Sen. Kerry Donovan, the sponsor of the traction law, said in April that when I-70 shuts down, it has a ripple effect.

“Shift workers from Leadville can’t get to Vail,” she said. “They miss their shift. They miss payday that day. Ski instructors can’t make it into communities to teach lessons. We can’t get deliveries.”

CDOT has been advertising the new law, using the electronic boards on I-70 to remind drivers of the rules. Drivers on I-25 also saw several warnings about the snow all day on Wednesday along with a message asking if their tires were ready for it.

Checkpoints?

Last month, CDOT officials said they were not going to install new checkpoints to enforce the new traction law this year.

CDOT’s highway maintenance director Kyle Lester said checkpoints have helped reduce accidents in other states, such as California.

But he said they also come with a downside.

“It’s easy to see 10 to 15-mile backups coming out of Sacramento” on the way to Donner Pass, he said of a mandatory checkpoint there.

CDOT did not rule out checkpoints in the future. But for now, officials say they will rely on education campaigns.

Copyright 2021 KUNC. To see more, visit KUNC.

Scott Franz is a government watchdog reporter and photographer from Steamboat Springs. He spent the last seven years covering politics and government for the Steamboat Pilot & Today, a daily newspaper in northwest Colorado. His reporting in Steamboat stopped a police station from being built in a city park, saved a historic barn from being destroyed and helped a small town pastor quickly find a kidney donor. His favorite workday in Steamboat was Tuesday, when he could spend many of his mornings skiing untracked powder and his evenings covering city council meetings. Scott received his journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is an outdoorsman who spends at least 20 nights a year in a tent. He spoke his first word, 'outside', as a toddler in Edmonds, Washington. Scott visits the Great Sand Dunes, his favorite Colorado backpacking destination, twice a year. Scott's reporting is part of Capitol Coverage, a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Fifteen public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.