Colorado is poised to begin allowing private companies to station crews at designated areas along Interstate 70 and other mountain highways who can offer to sell, install and remove tire chains and other tire-traction devices on tractor trailers and passenger vehicles for a fee.
The program would be created through Senate Bill 69, a bipartisan measure that represents the Colorado legislature’s latest effort to prevent panic-attack-inducing winter travel hangups in the high country.
The legislation is modeled after a similar initiative in Washington that has been in operation for roughly 20 years. Oregon and California also allow similar third-party vendors to help motorists install and remove chains.
“We know one of the biggest reasons why commercial truckers, especially ones that aren’t from Colorado, don’t put their chains on is they don’t know how or they need help,” state Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat and one of the lead sponsors of Senate Bill 69, said during a committee hearing last week. “I’ve heard from police chiefs in my district that (these truckers) get out of their truck in the middle of a snowstorm in shorts and flip-flops.”
All commercial vehicles traveling through Colorado’s high country are required to carry chains from Sept. 1 to May 31. They must use those chains when the state’s chain law is in effect.
Two-wheel drive passenger vehicles traveling through the high country must carry chains or other tire-traction devices, like snow socks, for two or more drive tires from Sept. 1 through May 31. The chains or traction devices must be used when the passenger vehicle traction law is in effect.
If passenger vehicles don’t have chains or traction devices, they must have tires with a tread depth of at least 3/16-inch and which are rated for either “all weather” or “mud and snow.”
Violators face steep fines, especially if they cause a crash.
Senate Bill 69 would leave it up to the vendors to determine how much to charge, but in Washington state, chain installation for passenger vehicles costs approximately $25 while removal costs $10. The vendors charge $25 per tire for chain installation on large trucks and $5 per tire for removal.
In Washington, there are five small businesses that offer chain installation and removal services along stretches of mountain roads.
The Colorado Department of Transportation would be responsible for licensing the vendors and preventing a monopoly.
Motorists would not be required to use the chain installation and removal services. It would simply be an option for those needing help.
The Colorado Department of Transportation, as well as Colorado Ski Country USA, the Colorado Motor Carriers Association and the I-70 Coalition, support the measure.
“This is one more piece in the puzzle,” Greg Fulton, who leads the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, told the legislature last week.
Finally, Senate Bill 69 would also require rental car companies to notify their customers of Colorado’s traction laws. It would clarify as well that all-wheel drive vehicles must have winter or all-season tires to comply with the passenger-vehicle traction law.
The other main sponsors of Senate Bill 69 are Sen. Marc Catlin, a Montrose Republican, and Democratic Reps. Meghan Lukens of Steamboat Springs and Elizabeth Velasco of Glenwood Springs.
The bill passed the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee last week with unanimous support. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Last year the legislature passed Senate Bill 100, which prohibits vehicles from traveling in the left lane on treacherous sections of Interstate 70 through Colorado’s high country, including Floyd Hill, Georgetown Hill, near the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels, Vail Pass, Dowd Junction and Glenwood Canyon.
Additionally, the bill increased fines for commercial vehicles that speed through Glenwood Canyon and added a list of mountain routes to the areas where commercial vehicle drivers must carry chains between Sept. 1 and May 31.