Courtesy Colorado Department of Transportation
The Colorado Department of Transportation is launching a new safety campaign to better equip truck drivers making their way through the mountain corridor.
Last week CDOT — in partnership with the Colorado Motor Carriers Association and the Colorado State Patrol — officially unveiled “The Mountain Rules,” a comprehensive safety-focused effort to educate both in and out of state trucking companies and drivers on the challenges of driving through Colorado’s mountain passes.
“It’s no secret that our mountains create immense challenges for semi-truck drivers,” said Shoshana Lew, CDOT’s executive director. “The Mountain Rules has a simple mission — get everyone home safely — and this campaign, which supports CDOT’s Whole Safety Whole System initiative, is a major step toward achieving that goal.”
Bob Wilson, CDOT’s statewide communications manager, said the department has been in discussions to address trucker safety for some time, but were spurred to immediate action after a runaway semi-truck caused a major pileup that killed four people near the Colorado Mills Parkway in Lakewood earlier this year.
Wilson said that one of the main purposes of the new program is to help educate out of state drivers, who often drive through the area unaware of the potential dangers caused by inclement weather and steep grades.
“The issue is you get truckers that come in from out of state from the southeastern part of the country,” said Wilson. “They come in and they don’t know anything about the chain law. They get out of their trucks in their flip-flops and shorts when it’s 20 degrees out and the snow is sideways. They haven’t been properly educated by their trucking firms on what to anticipate. So we’re discussing how to get ahead of that with people coming into the state, during the wintertime especially. From there we started looking at other things, and what other tools we had at our disposal.”
In addition to an educational effort, CDOT is taking a number of steps to improve safety among truck drivers in the mountain corridor — developed through focus groups with semi-truck drivers. To begin, CDOT will be putting up new signage on eastbound Interstate 70 east of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels with information on brake check locations for truckers. The department will also be restriping the wide eastbound exit ramp at the Genesee Park Interchange to create a better short-term parking area where trucks can cool down their brakes and run equipment checks before making the final descent to Golden.
The program also includes a new subscription-based in-cab alert system, wherein truck drivers can receive warnings as they approach areas where brake failures are common; along with the locations of brake check areas and runaway truck ramps. On top of safety concerns drivers can also subscribe to Drivewyze, a service that informs drivers of upcoming weigh stations, examines the bypass criteria and lets the driver know if they’re able to continue on without stopping.
Steep-Grade-In-Cab_Drivewyze
Finally, CDOT is looking into the feasibility of new runaway truck ramps and other mitigation efforts such as geometric and signage improvements to the existing Mount Vernon Canyon runaway ramp.
“We’re hoping it will have a big impact,” said Wilson. “There’s not a ton of truck accidents, but there’s enough to always be a concern. So if we can get truckers to slow down and not have any kind of crashes that’s going to be a big improvement. Because all it takes is one jackknifed semi to block a highway for several hours. So anything we can do to avoid truck accidents we’re going to see as an improvement.”
Wilson said that while the program is kicking off east of the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels, CDOT is planning on expanding their efforts to areas around the state, including into Summit County. Of note, the most frequently used runaway truck ramp in the state resides on westbound I-70 at milepost 209, just outside of Silverthorne. According to data from CDOT, the ramp has been used at least eight times since late August 2016.
Given the tragic accident in April, state officials are also hoping to get the word out that truck drivers won’t be cited for using truck ramps, and that they shouldn’t hesitate to use one if necessary.
“I want to dispel any misconceptions, myths or rumors about truck ramps for all commercial carriers who travel our mountain corridors,” said Col. Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, in a statement. “Commercial carriers will not be cited by law enforcement for using truck ramps. Should your brakes fail, please save lives, and use the ramps.”