DENVER — The highways on the Front Range swallowed up the warm sunshine on Monday, but that warmth will be long gone by the time the snow arrives.
“Right at the point when people are getting ready to go to work: That’s when we’re expecting the heaviest snow during that rush hour period in the morning," Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tamara Rollison said.
The heaviest snow could fall between 5 and 10 a.m. Temperatures are expected to be in the middle 20s along the Front Range, which means most of the snow will stick to the roads.
“Well that’s what we do. We're snow fighters," Rollison said. "So we’ll have 84 plows out in the Denver metro region. We’ll start going into snow shift later on this evening, and we’ll be out until the roads are dry.”
CDOT said there will be another 25 plows on the I-70 mountain corridor between Golden and the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels.
The snow will slow down morning traffic. Plow drivers say with fewer cars on the road, they can plow more pavement.
“If we could just get a small percentage of motorists to stay at home or delay their travels until after the worst of the storm, that can make a really big difference to our plow drivers, so they have more room to get the job done," Rollison said.
Another thing that slows down the plows is crashes. CDOT is asking drivers to check their tires.
"The tire tread is what is essential," Rollison said. "You need about 3/16 of an inch of tire tread."
You can do a quarter test to make sure your tires have enough tread. Just take a quarter and turn George Washington upside down. Place the quarter into one of your tread grooves. Washington's head should be buried. If there is any space between your tire and the top of his head, your tires are not safe for travel.
It is also important to make sure your tires are properly inflated. They do not function as intended if they are underinflated, and the cold morning air can reduce your tire pressure.
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