Quite true, I always wait. Just like last week when we got the preview of this last batch on Friday. They closed US36 and reopened it at 7am. I waited till 9am to get going, after all the supertruckers took off from the truckstop.

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TexasMike
No place like Texas ...

I"M a native and local runner in colorado

yes, CDOT sucks, but it isn't from lack of money, it's dumb. (and poor choices in equipment). None of which any of us can fix and probably corrupt as hell kickbacks (our roads are in terrible shape as I'm sure you all well know, despite outrageous registration fees and high fuel taxes. WTF is all that money going?)

In a storm I plow snow (not with the big trucks ) and have for years, so unless you plow snow, maybe you don't know a few things.

1. blowing and drifting snow is brutal to keep up with and the further you go east the less there is to stop that wind. You can plow it and it will be covered in 30 minutes by a couple feet of snow if it's still blowing.

2. a drift is unbelievably hard to move. It's not light and fluffy like regular snow, it's solid hardpacked no space left in it snow. a 4' drift takes a front end loader to move. (where a plow equipped dump truck can move 3 to 4' of regular snow)

3. There are like 3 million people in the state, 2 million of which live along the Front Range (Colo springs to Ft Collins) Guess what they are going to keep open first? I-25 never closed except N of Ft Collins. (and that is one windswept area and I'm sure Wyoming didn't want them in Cheyenne). Sometimes in a really bad storm you have to do triage and decide what is going to stay open and what you are just going to abandon for a while until the storm eases.

4. You can't plow roads in jammed traffic all doing 1mph. It takes speed 20 to 30mph to make the snow move. If we're all doing 1mph, the plow does zippo good and it gets way behind.

5. They get way behind when drivers of all types (although mostly SUV's) go flying off the road and get stuck. Tis better to not let them out there and not have to spend precious resources rescuing them. Rescuing a plow truck takes even more resources.

6. When an early or late season storm comes in, the ground underneath is warm, which means it's melts. Which is fine, until you remove the snow, then it freezes and turns into instant ice. Since the state no longer uses sand/salt but uses that worthless mag chloride (which makes things slick) they can't keep up with the ice.

Anyway sometimes you just have to wait. The storm didn't do what it was supposed to. (it came in late, after everyone was already at work) and then the wind came up after. Then it moved east when it was supposed to stay here for a while. If I had a dime for everytime the weather forecasters were wrong............

Oh, state dump trucks are almost always CDL required, they have HOS problems too in big storms.

Yup, either be first or wait a while.

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In WY the plow drivers don't worry about HOS in a snow storm. I've never heard exact details but ignoring the HOS in a storm has been implied in the discussions I've had with plow drivers.

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Hey LoneCowboy,

I want to thank you for what you do, instead of bellyachin' at you for what you cannot get done. I too, am a Colorado native, born and raised in the lower Arkansas Valley.

I've been stuck on Monument Hill, N/B, for as long as 10 hours, (in a POV, not a commercial rig,) because of 18 wheelers that were clueless about what they were doing. It's been a few years, probably back in 1961 or somewhere, but I won't forget it.

And I've been stuck on I-70 out east in an 18 wheeler. I have heard all of the garbage talk on the CB about CDOT. But I've always realized that these guys with the big mouths, really haven't a C L U E about your job.

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My wife asked, "What will you be doing today?"

I replied,"nothing."

She said, "but you did that yesterday."

I said, "right, but I haven't finished it."

I'm sure it's the same in most emergency situations like after a hurricane,
they tell us to run as long as we feel we are safe to drive. And no it wasn't
just the people running the job (FEMA) telling us this, we had proclamations from the state and feds saying that as an emergency assistance vehicle they were not to hamper our operations.

We still had to log it but HOS didn't matter. Also weight did not matter, if it fit on the trailer run with it.

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"Léssez le bon ton roullé!"

yep BTDT, plowed snow for close to 10 yrs sharing duties with my old man.

Oh and CDOT does not have HOS worries, they work 12 on 12 off when plowing operations are in effect. If they get too far behind they are supposed to hand off some the non-interstate work to the counties./cities

Hey, LoneCowboy! Thank you for letting see the OTHER side of the coin on this one!

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okay all you sissies still sitting at the truck stops, wal-marts, and anywhere else trucks can park....the storm has passed more than 24hrs ago. i never want to overdrive my driving hours because ALL THE DAMN PARKING AREAS BETWEEN EVANSTON, WY TO LINCOLN, NE WERE JAM-PACKED. i wasn't the only one having that problem. i had 20 drivers follow me down an off-ramp because they saw me exiting, knowing that i probably knew of a legit place to stop. when i woke up, i was surrounded by trucks.

the roads are dry between salt lake city and omaha, ne. clear the hell out of the truck-stops, please, and make room for people who have been driving, and are looking for some place to shut down.

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3.14, I hope you and the others following you finally found a spot to shut down and get some rest. Y'all be safe out there.

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The eyes are the window to the soul