DENVER — Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and agencies across the state are making preparations for the latest round of winter weather.
The biggest impact is expected to be the Wednesday evening commute when snow is forecast to fall over an inch an hour along the Front Range.
CDOT is urging motorists to avoid travel during the brunt of the storm beginning Wednesday afternoon through the night.
Driving conditions could be very hazardous along the I-70 mountain corridor at Floyd Hill and the I-25 corridor at Monument south of Castle Rock, said CDOT.
CDOT said it will focus first on the interstates and other major state-maintained roadways with the highest traffic volumes. Once the storm subsides, crews will plow other state routes.
Colorado drivers can monitor road conditions by visiting COtrip.org.
FORECAST: Full forecast
CLOSURES: Full list of closures
RELATED: Here are the shoveling rules around the Denver metro area
CDOT is also reminding drivers it is illegal to pass a snowplow when it is operating in a tandem formation with one or more snowplows. Tandem plowing staggers multiple plows to cover all lanes and clear the entire roadway in one sweep.
In general, drivers should not pass plows because they are pushing snow, slush, rocks and other debris that could damage your car and obstruct your view.
CDOT said they are ready to tackle this storm despite a driver shortage.
"Just like other industry sectors, we do have a driver shortage, but what’s important is we have a deep bench and we started out with a lot of drivers and so we are using our resources as efficiently as possible," CDOT spokesperson Tamara Rollison said. "We just urge motorists to drive as safely as possible and if they can stay home, that's a good idea too."
"What we have done with the driver shortage is if there's areas of the metro area that are under control that may not need any more plowing, if needed, we will deploy those plows to other areas of the metro region to take care of what needs to be taken care of," Rollison said. "Mother Nature is going to do her thing. We all have to respect that."
CDOT is hiring a variety of positions, including some entry-level positions that could pay about $45,000 a year. They're also offering a housing stipend for some locations.
9NEWS reached out to the city of Denver to see if they were dealing with a plow driver shortage, and they said they are "adequately staffed."
If you’re looking for the current location of plows, Denver Public Works and CDOT each have tracking maps.
CDOT, Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and area counties will plow heavily-traveled roads first before moving onto ones that don’t see as much traffic and emphasis will be placed on areas around hospitals and schools.
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