City responds to drivers’ road concerns after snowstorm

The city of Colorado Springs is responding after many drivers contacted KRDO NewsChannel 13, saying roads were undriveable in this weekend’s storm.

Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division Manager Corey Farkas says the storm blew in later than the city expected.

“We were expecting the storm to come in (Friday night), so all of our resources were ready. Our people were on standby, all our trucks were loaded,” Farkas said.

Rush hour traffic also contributed to delays, according to Farkas.

“What we need to balance in this situation is when we bring our folks in. We can’t bring them in too terribly early and have people sitting around, so we have our snow patrols out and as soon as the snow starts flying. That’s when we activate. When we activate, it takes every bit of 45 minutes to an hour before trucks are on the roads. This storm blew in rapidly, and we were getting upwards of an inch of snowfall an hour in some areas. So when it starts to fall at that rate, you’re behind the curve at that point in time,” Farkas explained.

The city also says roads were pre-treated ahead of the storm. That’s still no consolation for some.

“It was horrible. I could barely get to my house without slipping and sliding through red lights. I actually had to park on the side of the road because I couldn’t get out of my own driveway,” Johnathan Moody, a Colorado Springs driver we spoke to said. “I feel like it’s their job to predict the weather correctly so that way people then are driving and are safe on the roads.”