Colorado Department of Transportation launches new app, winter-travel friendly
COLORADO (KRDO) -- The Colorado Department of Transportation launched a new app this month to provide statewide, real-time traffic information.
The free COTrip Planner app became available to Coloradans through the Apple Store or Google Play Store on October 1.
CDOT says its app has something that Google Maps and others lack: real-time road information — direct from the source — that’s particularly vital for winter mountain driving on I-70. Timely, as snow plows through the western part of the state, causing hazardous driving on I-70 and shutting down parts of I-25 north of Denver.
The novelty of this app is that it's a near carbon copy of its CDOT's newly renovated website. A layering feature allows you to see a list of several items on the map all at once. That includes:
- Real-time weather conditions
- Road maintenance and construction projects with start dates and end times
- Future road projects to be on the lookout for
- Live cameras
- Where chain laws are in effect
COTrip Planner even has a "trucker mode," which shows information specialized for big-rig drivers.
The "Tell Me" function allows hands-free use, with the app announcing upcoming conditions and incidents along the route or in the area.
COTrip Planner does not currently have turn-by-turn direction capabilities, like Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze — but CDOT has plans to include that in a future app update. Additionally, live road information is available only for state and federal highways, not local roads.
Other updates to look forward to are snow plow trackers — something to look forward to after a "name competition" over the summer dubbed snowplows in Colorado with fun, new names, such as Darth Blader.
