DENVER — As drivers head into the mountains along Interstate 70, many don't see the work it takes to keep the roads open in the middle of the heavy snowfall.
"Our crews are insanely busy," said Stacia Sellers, communications manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
As the snow falls down, the crews head up to areas where the snow is heavy and the mountain slope is just right.
"You're going to see anywhere between 30 to 45 degrees for an avalanche," Sellers said.
CDOT has various ways to release snow slides waiting to happen.
"We have a howitzer. We have an Avalauncher. We have a Gazex system and we also do helicopter operations," Sellers said.
A howitzer is an old Army cannon that shoots live artillery into the mountainside initiating the avalanche to fall across a closed off highway. An Avalauncher fires a missile into the snow pile. Gazex is a remote-controlled, installed system that explodes a gas mixture in a metal tube to trigger the slide.
"We use for helicopter operations what's known as a turkey bomb. So, we do have an explosive to detonate those avalanche slides," Sellers said.
CDOT is working on mountain roads across the state.
"There's not a slide path that we ignore in favor of another corridor, but I-70 is our priority," Sellers said.
She said workers believe that what they're doing is saving lives during a strangely snowy year in the mountains.
"This is extremely unusual. You're having some slides that are coming down and hitting the roadway that haven't done that in 150 years," Sellers said.
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