'Vehicles Are Stuck Everywhere': Impactful Snowstorm Paralyzes Travel In Colorado

we' got a winter storm in Colorado do we ever I mean it's coming down well as predicted which is always nice but man this thing is really performing well at this hour it's true and I mean it's safe to say that this might be the biggest snowstorm since 2021 I mean that was a notable one raging in the state of Colorado travel pretty much paralyzed West of Denver some of the busiest highways like I70 buried in deep snow at least along some portions the Colorado Department of Transportation says veh

icles are stuck everywhere taking a look at some of the video from Golden Colorado look at crw though still hard at work trying to work against what continues to fall we're joined Now by Colorado DOT spokesperson Matthew enzio Matthew thanks for joining us let's just get right to it I mean the biggest spots that you guys are tracking this morning I know there is a stretch of I70 that that is closed have there been many calls for help regarding stranded drivers well we are tracking some uh some s

tranded drivers at a specific location uh just east of Idaho Springs for for folks that know this stretch of I70 pretty well but this is uh you know the ski Corridor between Denver and you know some of our our uh more famous uh Resorts so it's well traveled but you know really intense snowfall rates overnight uh you did catch some folks uh in frankly in particular were having trouble with commercial Motor Vehicles those 18 wheelers who aren't following the law they're trying to sneak through and

and not put chains on their tires and that's not going too well when you've got conditions this extrem you know the hope is that everybody does kind of stay at home and off the roads but the reality is you're going to get people out there especially some of those drivers that are trying to make deadline so you have a lot of questions when are those interstates as we mentioned I70 which you know runs between Denver out towards Idaho Springs and as you mentioned um in towards the golden area like

an area we've been watching I should say I25 has been impacted us 40 so with the Eisenhower Tunnel also shut down everyone wants to know when could they be back open well we are pulling those semi- trucks out uh one at a time they are stuck on a pretty steep grade but once that is complete we think that our our plows can make a couple passes get the road clear and and get it safe to open um it's a little hard to predict timing because um when when you're pulling 18 wheelers out you know one loa

d to the next can can be a very different job um but as soon as we're able to to reopen the road we'll be making that announcement and making sure that it's you know safe to stay open for travelers how many guys you have on crew and is it all hands- on deck and also how long do you expect to keep up all the operations yeah we've been all hands on deck since yesterday afternoon uh we split our team of about 1600 people in into two um and they do 12 and a half hour shifts uh one after the next unt

il the storm clears and we've got every lane of travel clear for for everyone wow well let's hope that this thing thing wraps up soon we know it's a long day and uh the work continues to get those semis stuck so we can get the interstates reopened valuable information there Matt in enzio with the Colorado DOT thanks for being with us this morning weather command thanks for having me oh look at that dog dog and snow come on there it's hard not to see the good when the snowf fall you have you have

to bring both a steep grade semi stuck on there him them avoiding commercial vehicles avoiding not putting change on the I know just trying to squeak through and you feel for these guys too I mean you're talking 12 and a half hour shifts and it is demanding job too it's not like you're out there on the beach you're out there with a blinding snowfall coming in trying to yank people off the road