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Aug 18, 2007 1:32 pm US/Mountain
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CDOT Strives For Safer Trucking On I-70 In Mtns.
Written for the Web by Andrea Lopez
by Andrea Lopez
SILVERTHORNE, Colo. (CBS4) ―
When the snow starts to fall this winter and travelers are, once again, largely at the mercy of Mother Nature to regulate the speeds at which they drive and the icy challenges and delays they'll face on Interstate 70, truckers will be contending with an additional worry -- heavier fines if they break the chain up law.
When it comes to accidents involving semi-trucks, they are predominately caused by the fact that truckers don't put on chains when they should, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. During the 2006-2007 ski season between the months of September and April, truck accidents closed I-70 for a total of 15 hours and nine minutes. The total time during that same period in which trucks blocked a single lane of the interstate accounted for 114 hours and 39 minutes.
"When you're spending your free time to head up to the high country and recreate and vacation here, and you can't make it up here, that's a real problem," said State Representative Dan Gibbs, a Democrat based out of Silverthorne. "There have been studies that have reflected that every hour I-70 is shut down equates to $800,000 to $1 million dollars of potentially lost revenue for the region."
Living in the high country and frequently using the interstate, Gibbs decided to do something about the problem. He sponsored a bill that increases the fines for truckers who don't obey the chain up law. The fine used to be $100 for a truck driver who got caught without chains when the law was in effect, and $500 if that driver's truck blocked a lane. Under this new bill, which was signed into law this year, those fines will go up to $500 and $1000 respectively.
"I think it will really be a positive step to encourage truck drivers to comply with this law that's in place," said Gibbs. "This particular law only impacts truckers who don't comply with the chain law."
But truckers will tell you that if they have to comply with the law, they need help with safer areas to chain up.
"It's pretty terrifying to chain up when you're up there," said Paul Gewuerz, a truck driver for Budweiser who drives the mountain corridor as much as six times a week. "I mean you have just enough room to get so you're not falling off the right side of the shoulder and you're standing so you are maybe five feet away from moving traffic. It would help a lot to put some new chain up spots in there."
That's exactly what CDOT is doing. Construction began on Aug. 13 to improve chain up areas by 60 percent. Crews are building new areas and improving existing ones, and they're spending $2.47 million to do it.
"It was pretty evident that CDOT had to make some improvements to the interstate 70 corridor to accommodate the trucking industry," said Region One Transportation Director Jeff Kullman. "In addition to that, what we're doing is we're going to be placing signs in advance of these locations to notify the average public that they are coming to a congested area with a lot of friction on the side of the road where the truckers are placing their chains."
This is a two phase construction project by CDOT. By November, it will have more than doubled the number of chain up areas along the interstate, added better signage to notify truckers when the chain law is in effect, improved lighting and parking at existing chain up areas, and lowered the speed limits through these areas to make conditions safer for truckers and drivers. Next summer, CDOT plans to spend additional money to more than double the number of parking spaces along the interstate, proving anywhere from 600 to 800 parking spaces where trucks can safely chain up or wait out a storm.
"It really takes folks about 30 to 40 minutes to chain up and if there are no illuminated facilities for them to chain up, it's a real challenge for them to want to comply with the law because potentially it's not a safe environment," said Gibbs. "We're going to see more improvements with existing areas, they're going to make them wider. They might add lighting facilities too."
Representatives with Colorado's trucking industry want people to understand that the chain up law is more complex than many people might think. Greg Fulton with the Colorado Motor Carriers Association said, for instance, hazardous materials trucks are required to chain up only in safe locations as there's a risk of the chains sparking on dry pavement. Sometimes the chain law is in effect only for single axel vehicles, and at other times, for all commercial vehicles. Some truck drivers feel that it stays in effect for too long. Fulton said that driving on dry pavement with chains can damage both the chains and the tires, and he said that there's a lack of truck parking between Rifle and Denver for truckers to put on and take off chains.
"During the winter months, all of a sudden you get into snow and ice and you have the safety of your vehicle, your safety, the safety of the vehicles around you, and you have to be aware of the chain laws in Colorado and be able to apply chains correctly and properly at the proper time," said Gary White with the CMCA. He said the I-70 corridor is one of the most challenging in the nation for truck drivers with its series of hills and steep grades. "In other states we have grades that go up and down and the chains are applied there. In Colorado, on the I-70 corridor, you have potentially four places that you have to apply chains and take them off."
White said drivers have to take their chains off as soon as they're on dry pavement because the chains wear out very quickly and it can create a hazard for the drivers. He, too, is concerned that there are not enough places on I-70 for truckers to chain up and take them off, and that the speed limits through the chain up areas are too high.
"There was a Wal-Mart driver killed while taking his chains off last January in the mountains, and that was a tragic accident and we don't want that to happen again," he said. "That was a situation where he was pulled off on the side of the road on the shoulder taking his chains off and a car slid into him. We all have to be aware of what's happening -- not just the trucking industry but regular automobile drivers going past these situations.
"We would like to see more parking places for the drivers. You know there are situations where they've closed the highway but we really don't have a place to pull off the road and park the trucks. We need seven or eight hundred more parking places."
White says the CMCA supports the higher fines for truckers who don't chain up when the law is in effect because of the safety factor. He said it should result in more compliance as truckers won't want to pay higher fines.
There has been talk of restricting the hours that trucks can drive the interstate, but White said it would be an economic disaster.
"That would create a situation where when they released all the trucks all at once, number one, it would create a train effect if you will of the trucks going up the mountain," he said. "Number two, you have to think about the hours of service again if you're going to tie the drivers up for three or four hours waiting on traffic to clear. They're restricted as far as their hours of service are concerned and they have a problem getting to their destinations. It would have an economic impact on the industry as far as the drivers' pay and the number of loads that would be hauled over a period of time."
Trucks will always be a part of Interstate 70. It is a major east-west corridor for the trucking industry to transport goods. In Colorado alone, more than 145,000 people are involved in the trucking industry. In the mountain communities, more than 80 percent of the supplies that they receive arrive by truck. Also, 80 percent of the towns in Colorado are served by trucks. They are a critical part of the transportation industry and the economy, not just in Colorado but nationwide. High hopes rest on these higher fines and the plan to improve and build new chain up areas. The hope is that more truckers comply with the law, preventing accidents, and that they will have safer places to comply by the time this winter arrives.
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