DENVER, Colo. - Friday's winter weather is bringing dangerous conditions to Colorado's roads.
With temperatures expected to drop into the 20s Friday night and early Saturday morning, transportation crews are working to ensure a safe commute for drivers.
"We have currently over 100 snow plows on our roads in region one for the Colorado Department of Transportation and over the next 24 hours, we're going to keep it up," said Maddie Garbalagtys, Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) spokesperson.
CDOT splits up the state into five regions; Denver is located in region one along with other countries like Adams, Broomfield, and Jefferson, to name a few, plus portions of several main interstates.
"Region One maintains over 4,100 lane miles, which is actually enough to stretch from one end of the country to another," Garbalagtys said.
Garbalagtys says the department is monitoring conditions across the state, but their focus remains on major roads.
"Those higher elevation areas that are getting a little bit more snow, you know, our focus and the Colorado Department of Transportation means maintaining state highways and interstates," Garbalagtys explained.
Colby Slonecker and Toby Nelson spent Friday driving from Nebraska to Denver before a flight Saturday morning.
They said they saw a fair number of crashes as they made it into Colorado, and they wouldn't be shocked if there were more overnight.
"No, there're definitely some slick spots," Slonecker said. "You get into slushy, heavier snow, and it was definitely pretty dicey."
"You know, speed's got probably a lot to do with it hitting that slush," Nelson said. "It'll pull you around. Not good."
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In Denver, the city's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) provided some insight about how they are going about treating roads overnight.
"We have drivers on duty all day today and then another shift of drivers will be in at midnight to work overnight, addressing the main streets as needed," DOTI Marketing & Communications Director Nancy Kuhn told Denver7 in a statement. "They’ll work to monitor bridges and overpasses, drop deicing material as needed, and respond to any issues."
We also sent a DOTI spokesperson a list of questions:
Denver7: Are there certain areas/neighborhoods that have been troubling for crews thus far or they foresee could cause issues with ice/snow?
DOTI: Across the network in Denver, we are experiencing wet roadways and people will likely see greater amounts of slush on roadways less traveled (such as neighborhood streets) and in shady areas.
Ground and ambient temps are above freezing at this hour and will be until the early hours tomorrow morning.
When those temps dip below freezing, and if things start to ice up, we will use a dry deicing material, as needed, that will provide some traction and accelerate the recovery of our streets when the sun comes out.
Our teams overnight will monitor the main streets, paying particular attention to bridges and overpasses.
What can residents do to help out crews?
For the safety of all, people should drive more slowly - below the speed limit on wet/snowy roads. Remember our residential streets are 20 mph.
Also, for the good of everyone’s ability to get around, we ask people to shovel their sidewalks. Businesses should begin clearing their sidewalks immediately after snow has stopped falling. Residences need to clear their sidewalks by the next day.
What kind of de-icing materials do crews use?
We have both liquid and dry deicing materials.
What would DOTI say to residents who look outside and see crews either not clearing their street and/or not dropping salt on the roads?
Given how wet the roads are right now, deploying a deicing material, by and large, would be a waste of material (it would be washed away). The drivers would use deicer at this time as a spot treatment only for slick spots they may experience on their routes.
This is not a storm that requires the deployment of our residential plows, so residents will not see their residential streets plowed for this storm.
We deployed our big plows to monitor and address the main streets that can be described as streets with center-line stripes.
With many people potentially viewing this snow as an opportunity to get away to the mountains, CDOT is encouraging everyone to be prepared.
"We like to say your preparation starts before you even hit the road, so making sure that your vehicle is fully fueled or charged, that you have the appropriate tires on your car, and also that you have emergency supplies in your vehicle, like blankets, food, water and so on,” Garbalagtys outlined.
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