A Colorado radio station, controlled by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), launched this last Saturday morning, by which the general public could be kept up to speed on road and traffic conditions along I-70.
Part of CDOT’s “Change Your Peak Drive” campaign, the station is meant to educate drivers about safe driving in winter mountain conditions. According to CDOT director Amy Ford, "We wanted to be able to share the most up-to-date information with the public. I think everyone has been sitting in traffic on I-70 and wondering what is going on up there. So you, as a driver, can make informed decisions about what you want to do with your trip."
The station will run broadcasts Saturday and Sunday from 6 am to 9 am and 2:30 pm to 6 pm to coincide with peak traveling hours; the reports are also available through CoTrip.org and the CDOT mobile application. Content of the broadcasts includes information about weather, traffic, snow plows and carpooling. Moreover, certain mountain-area businesses have run discounts to travelers who want to remain in the area in order to skip the rush hour traffic.
"We determined we wanted to put a significant push in education, and this is one of the strategies we developed last summer, and we are ready to implement," Ford said.
CDOT is spending $6 million this year in operations efforts in the I-70 corridor including extra snow plows, education pieces, coordination with a single operation center with Colorado State Patrol and a new corridor manager.
