By Sgt. Patrick Rice
Last year, I was assigned to one of the nation’s busiest and most dangerous stretches of Interstate 70. I-70 meticulously winds through the Colorado Rockies as it traverses the nation. In many locations across the country, when trouble falls upon President Eisenhower’s Interstate system, the detour is a minor inconvenience at best. Back up a couple of miles, take an exit, find a surface street, and hop back on. No problem, right? Somebody in the car probably needed a potty break anyway. But when I-70 between Grand Junction and Denver goes down, you’re looking at massive delays, hours or even days long. Passenger cars might be able to sneak around on Highway 40 through northern Colorado, or if you’re aware of the closure soon enough maybe you can take Highway 50 to the south. Commercial vehicles often have to detour to Wyoming or New Mexico to continue their trips. When this happens, most of them park and wait out whatever the trouble may be. You can imagine the lost revenue to businesses nationwide when trucks are parked for days on end. That figure is in the millions within hours of the interstate closing. You can rest assured the troopers in this area understand the importance of having this American artery moving cars at the nation’s pulse, not just for the trucking industry but for all of you heading to grandparents’ birthday parties and cousins’ weddings that will never happen again.
Crashes close the mountain passes more than anything else. Proactive traffic enforcement and trooper visibility help keep those crashes down. When crashes occur, we utilize variable message boards, Facebook, X, Twitter, and the CDOT app to inform the public of the latest information. We work to clear crashes from the road as fast as we can to get you moving again. Sometimes, we have trouble getting resources to the crash because of backed-up traffic. You may hear of a westbound crash and wonder why eastbound is closed. It’s likely because we must bring tow trucks to the scene using eastbound lanes and against traffic flow to clear the road as fast as possible. We are trained and seasoned professionals at removing crash scenes safely and quickly.
I know sometimes from the driver’s seat of your family car with limited information, it may feel different, but I assure you we want the road open too.
Help us keep the road open in the first place, and help us if it closes. When you see us on the side of the road doing that pesky proactive traffic enforcement, please slow down and move over for us. If you have never stood on the shoulder of an interstate before, you have no idea how terrifying it can be. We place an enormous amount of trust in the motoring public every time we get out of the car, and nearly all of us can testify it is impossible to jump out of the way of a vehicle when it drifts onto the shoulder at interstate speeds. Every member of the state patrol knows of fallen comrades because drivers failed to slow down and move over. Should one of us or our patrol cars be struck, I assure you the road will be closed for an extended period. In addition, if we contact you for not moving over and slowing down, you will face a trooper explaining a $170 ticket and how it aligns with an agency-wide zero-tolerance policy.
If the road is closed and you’re stuck in line, check the CDOT app for updates and stay in your lane. When impatient motorists turn the right shoulder into a third lane, we can’t get resources to the crash, and now everyone waits even longer. Here’s a trooper tip you can live with: Watch your mirrors while you wait. When you see emergency services coming behind you, determine which way they want to go. In the mountains bridges can restrict the right shoulder; sometimes, the best thing for us to do is “part the seas.” You will see us straddling a center line and hoping drivers in both lanes move to their respective shoulders. This strategy can provide the widest gap for first responders and get everyone moving again. Finally, please don’t be that guy that jumps ahead after we part the seas. More emergency vehicles will likely be coming, and now you’re in the way, and everyone around you is in disbelief that this is your first time sitting in traffic behind a crash.
About the Colorado State Patrol
Since our origin in 1935, the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) has focused on preserving human life and protecting property within our communities. Our 1,100 members embody the core values of Honor, Duty, and Respect in their daily jobs. In addition to our expertise in motor vehicle safety on the state’s roadways, the CSP is responsible for the Governor and other dignitaries’ protection, commercial motor vehicle enforcement, hazardous materials, homeland security, communications, investigative services, criminal interdiction, community education, aviation operations, and more. For additional information, visit us online at Colorado State Patrol.