El Paso County changes snow plow policies, adds interactive map

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - In unincorporated El Paso County, residents may be seeing fewer snow plows this year. That's because the county is changing its policies around plowing in residential neighborhoods. From now on, they will not be plowing residential streets when there is less than six inches of snow.

"I think that by changing this policy, we do two things. Number one is we try to keep our citizens happy. They're not angry with us for coming in, covering up their shoveled and plowed driveways and sidewalks, blocking in cars," Jack Ladley, Deputy Director of El Paso County Department of Public Works said.

He went on to say that this new policy also makes their snow plowing more efficient during major weather events in the winter.

"It's horribly inefficient when you have 4000 miles of roadway to go in every single storm and do snow and ice control. And the residential area where it really isn't needed," Ladley said.

This change will impact neighborhoods in unincorporated El Paso County like Falcon, certain areas of Monument, Black Forest, and neighborhoods closer to the mountains, according to Ladley.

In addition to these changes, El Paso County officials are also working on getting a live snow plowing map up, as soon as the next major weather event. This map will refresh every thirty minutes, tracking each snow plow, so residents can tell which roads are safe to drive on.

According to Ladley, they have been working on the map for over a year and just waiting for approval from other officials before it goes live.

"You'll be able to go to that map and see whether we've been there or not. And then that helps you make that safety decision on whether or not you should be out on the road that day," Ladley said.

The Snow Plow map will be on the El Paso County website when it is available.