There's some counterintuitive news about driving on Interstate 70 coming out of the Colorado Department of Transportation: The accidents and epic delays associated with getting into and out of the mountains were actually fewer overall this winter.
CDOT says weather-related crashes between C-470 and Frisco fell 46 percent and crashes with fatalities or injuries dropped 35 percent on I-70. The number of delays longer than an hour also fell.
CDOT credits widening traffic lanes through the Twin Tunnels and launching a public education campaign that asked people to have good tires and avoid peak travel times. The state agency also added snow plows and traffic metering at several locations.
All those changes help because, “An accident that takes just 10 minutes to clear can delay traffic up to one hour,” said Ryan Rice, CDOT’s director of transportation systems management and operation.
