Commercial drivers leaving Montezuma County for routes over the San Juan and central mountain passes are already required to carry tire chains – even under Wednesday’s sunny skies.
Colorado State Patrol underscored that rule with a chain-law checkpoint on I-70 near Dotsero on Wednesday, aiming to prevent costly fines, closures and delays when the first snow hits.
Drivers heading into high country during winter often see flashing road signs on mountain passes warning them the chain law is in effect.
Cortez trucker Ty Harris described the experience as nerve-racking when conditions deteriorate quickly.
“You’re trying to get off the highway into a chain-up area that can already be crowded with other trucks,” Harris said Wednesday in an interview during a fuel stop.
“You’ve got to throw chains in the snow while cars and semis are still going by. It can be dangerous if it’s busy,” Harris said.
CSP says it is focusing on early season checks during days with mild weather so that troopers can keep highways open and avoid delays when storms arrive.
“It may seem counterintuitive to do chain enforcement on a blue-sky day,” CSP Capt. John Hahn said. “But we’d much rather reach drivers now, before they find themselves in a storm without chains.”
Under Colorado’s must-carry law, commercial vehicles over 16,000 pounds or carrying 16 or more passengers must keep chains or other approved traction devices with them on board from Sept. 1 through May 31.
When winter storms hit and the chain law is activated, drivers must chain up before attempting high-elevation corridors. Especially in risk areas, such as the east end of the I-70 corridor coming from the Denver metro area and highways around Floyd Hill, Georgetown Hill, the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel and Vail Pass.
Last winter, Hahn said CSP issued 374 citations to trucks that failed to chain up when required and 122 citations to trucks that failed to chain up, became stuck and blocked lanes. Another 257 citations went to passenger vehicles for violating traction laws.
Unchained or unprepared vehicles often lead to closures along I-70 trouble spots – shutdowns that can delay vehicles for hours and cost freight haulers, ski resorts and mountain communities millions of dollars a day, according to 2023 CDOT data.
The Colorado Sun reported 1-70 hot spot Vail is stepping up efforts to curb winter highway closures. Vail passed an emergency ordinance this winter setting a $1,500 fine for trucks without chains during chain-law conditions and $2,650 for unchained semis that block traffic.
Sometimes, drivers simply aren’t ready for Colorado’s steep grades and unpredictable weather.
“A lot of rookies come out of CDL (commercial driver’s license) school in the South and have never even driven in snow, let alone chained up a big rig,” Harris said. “They get a few weeks of training, then they’re sent over the Rockies. I’ve had drivers come up to me in a storm asking how to throw chains, because they’ve never actually done it.”
Harris said seasoned mountain drivers learn to plan ahead, watch the weather and adapt, but the learning curve is steep for newcomers or out-of-state haulers.
“I’d like to see more of that training built into CDL school or maybe even a special endorsement for mountain driving,” he said.
Last winter, Harris chained up his 1985 Kenworth W900B only twice, both times on a snowpacked gravel road.
“You just have to preplan and keep your head on a swivel,” he said.
Hahn confirmed gaps in experience is a persistent issue the patrol and CDOT focuses on every winter.
“We deal with a lot of trucks that come here and end up in a crash or a situation they weren’t prepared for – not because they’re not skilled drivers, but simply because they lack familiarity with the unique challenges we have here,” Hahn said.
“The real challenge is, how do we reach that truck driver who is in Kentucky or Tennessee or Florida before they ever get here?” Hahn said.
CSP is utilizing geofenced, in-cab messaging for a second winter to address this issue. The system sends alerts to truckers’ electronic logbooks as they cross state lines, warning them they must carry chains on I-70 and other mountain routes.
Drivers who fail to comply face a $500 fine plus a $79 surcharge. If a vehicle gets stuck and blocks traffic, the penalty rises to $1,000 plus a $157 surcharge.
For truckers passing through high-elevation corridors, Hahn said, the message is simple: Be winter ready before getting on the road.
“Road safety on I-70 is a shared responsibility,” Hahn said. “That includes passenger vehicles. A single car spinning out can cause a truck to stop midgrade, and if that truck doesn’t have chains, it can end up blocking the whole lane.”
