Colorado State Patrol issued 12 citations to truck drivers who did not use chains on Interstate 70 while driving through the massive winter storm, many of which got stuck and made towing during the state’s major winter storm impossible, officials said Friday.
Commercial trucks over 16,000 pounds are required to carry chains from Sept. 1 to May 31 on the I-70 stretch from west of Denver to Dotsero.
If truckers fail to put on chains when required, they can be fined $100, according to CSP, and if they cause lane closures, the fine is $500. If a trucker causes the shutdown of traffic completely, the fine increases to $1,000. CSP did not give the breakdown Friday of the 12 citations.
State patrol said it has written more than 800 citations for noncompliance, which can include not having chains when going through a truck inspection at a port of entry, this winter.
Troopers said they responded to 100 motorist assists during the storm, including 32 on I-70 and 28 on U.S. 285.
A 90-mile stretch of I-70 reopened to commercial vehicles at 9 a.m. Friday, CDOT said.
The storm brought one of Colorado’s most busy roads to a standstill Wednesday night and all day Thursday as hundreds of vehicles became stuck in the gridlock along I-70. Heavy, wet snow made for slushy and slick conditions on the roads and plowing operations became “almost impossible” as jack-knifed semis blocked the roads, a Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson said Thursday. She added they saw “countless semis that were not chained up, despite the chain law.”
About 38,000 vehicles a day travel through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels in March.
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Several mountain roads, along with several ski areas, remained closed Friday due to unsafe driving conditions.
Eldora reported more than 40 inches in 48 hours and delayed its opening Friday after closing Thursday, according to the Eldora website.
The ski resort opened Friday afternoon after crews worked to clear roads and perform avalanche mitigation following what the resort called the biggest snow event it’s seen in decades.
The ski area closed Thursday after reporting several snow slides across its access road.
Echo Mountain near Idaho Springs also said it would remain closed Friday.
In the backcountry, the dense snow combined with strong easterly winds created high avalanche danger to most of the Front Range mountains, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center wrote on its website, advising people to avoid traveling in avalanche terrain.
“Some avalanches will break on deeper weak layers and propagate widely across terrain features,” the CAIC wrote. “Avalanches may run long distances or to valley floors. Many will run naturally.”
An avalanche warning is in effect for the Mosquito Ranger and southern Sawatch range down to Monarch Pass, as well as for Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks Wilderness, James Peak Wilderness, Mt. Blue Sky, and Pikes Peak, the CAIC said.