CDOT vows to keep passes open this winter

Font ResizeTransportationBy Monte Whaley
The Denver Postdenverpost.comPosted: 12/16/2012 12:01:00 AM MST

Keeping Colorado's mountain passes open year-round is one of the biggest challenges faced by any highway crew in the country, and the state vows to keep its unbeaten streak going this winter season.

Colorado Department of Transportation personnel maintain 36 high-mountain passes and have been able to keep them passable around the clock for at least a decade, said CDOT spokeswoman Mindy Crane.

In some cases — think heavy winter storms — passes may close temporarily, Crane said.

"But in terms of keeping passes open, year-round we are able to do that. Well, and then there's Independence Pass," she said.

Independence Pass, at an elevation of 12,095 feet, is the highest mountain pass maintained by CDOT. It is open seasonally.

There are other exceptions as well.

State Highway 5 to Mount Evans — which reaches an elevation of 14,150 feet — is not considered a mountain pass by CDOT.

Milner Pass, at 10,758 feet, and Trail Ridge High Point, at 12,183 feet, are on U.S. 34 in Rocky Mountain National Park but are not maintained by CDOT.

The agency's inventory includes eight passes that cross elevations of more than 11,000 feet; 12 with elevations between 10,000 and 11,000 feet; and 11 with elevations in excess of 9,000 feet, Crane said.

Of the 36 passes CDOT maintains for year-round travel, Loveland Pass on U.S. 40 is the loftiest at 11,992 feet. The lowest is Raton Pass on Interstate 25 at the New Mexico border, at 7,834 feet.

Colorado couldn't keep many of the state's east-west passes open in the winter until 1929. An influx of surplus heavy equipment from World War I and improvements in technology allowed the state to keep Tennessee Pass — at 10,424 feet — open in the winter of 1928-29 for the first time.

These days, travelers rely on the state's mountain passes to get to ski areas, and CDOT uses single- and tandem-drive axle snowplow trucks, rotary snowplows, four-wheel-drive snowplow trucks, caterpillars, motor graders and front-end loaders to help keep passes passable.

CDOT this year will once again use forecasting, snowpack sampling and artillery ordnance from the ground and air to bring down avalanches in a safe manner, said CDOT chief engineer Tim Harris.

"Our maintenance forces are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the winter to address every weather situation," Harris said. "Very often, they miss holidays, athletic events and family gatherings because of their service."

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley

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