Colorado DOT communications smothered by holiday snow, traffic

The combination of a heavy snowstorm and heavy traffic slammed the Colorado DOT’s computer system on Nov. 30, the busiest travel day of the year. Motorists who tried to check road conditions on the state’s website, www.cotrip.org, found that it was shut down, according to The Gazette of Colorado Springs. The state normally has six computer servers to handle the web requests and added two more Sunday afternoon, but they were all overwhelmed by the number of visits to the site.

CDOT’s 5-1-1 and 1-4-4 automated phone lines for road conditions also were overwhelmed by the number of calls on that day.

The communications breakdown was caused by heavy holiday travel and the area’s first real snowstorm of the season, Bob Wilson, a CDOT spokesman, told The Gazette.

A similar situation bogged down travel on I-25 between Colorado Springs and Denver. Heavy Thanksgiving holiday traffic, plus heavy snow and poor visibility in some areas resulting in a four-hour drive for some frustrated motorists.

By midday Monday, CDOT officials were reporting that all roads in the Monument area were passable. Wilson said the agency plans this winter to double the number of computers serving the travel website but does not have the money to expand the telephone systems.