Local street, road crews prepare for upcoming winter storm
Street and road crews in the Colorado Springs area are preparing for the season’s third winter storm bringing snow to the region.
Snow — the third measurable precipitation for the area this month — and colder temperatures are expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon and continue through Wednesday morning.
Colorado Springs officials said they didn’t receive enough snow to plow in the previous storm two weeks ago and don’t expect much accumulation this time, but plan to monitor travel conditions and will be ready to respond as needed.
El Paso County officials said they are prepared to respond to a storm that, according to their forecasts, could deposit from a few inches to a foot of snow in some areas.
The Colorado Department of Transportation plans to begin spraying salt brine on highways Tuesday afternoon before precipitation falls. CDOT began using salt brine last December as a cheaper alternative to commonly-used magnesium chloride.
“We make it ourselves, it doesn’t cost as much and in many ways it’s as effective as mag chloride,” said Brad Bauer, a CDOT supervisor. “We use it about 10 percent of the time. We’ll apply it on Interstate 25 from the Nixon Power Plant to Castle Rock.”
El Paso County plans to begin using salt brine later in the season while Colorado Springs has no plans to use it.
Crew supervisors ask drivers to slow down, be alert and give plows plenty of room to work.
When it comes to how much snow the area will receive for the entire season, supervisors have differing opinions, generally saying snowfall will depend on the strength of the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
While the blizzard of October 1997 stands out in the minds of many Coloradans, crew supervisors said two blizzards around Christmas 2006 and New Year’s Day 2007 also are noteworthy.
In the two latter storms, U.S. 24 between Colorado Springs and Limon was closed for several days, flights in and out of the Colorado Springs Airport were canceled for a week and many stores went days without deliveries of staples such as bread and milk.
