The Colorado Department of Transportation was on Interstate 70 east of the Eisenhower Tunnel this morning performing avalanche mitigation, in which crews monitor the snow along highways and try to control avalanches, making it safe for motorists.
Today, the department worked on a slide area called “Bethel.”
CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said the avalanches were set off to protect the driving public.
“We trigger them so they occur in a controlled environment rather than them occurring naturally and impacting traffic,” said Stegman. “We monitor 278 avalanche paths that potentially could hit highways. We work with avalanche forecasters who do site evaluations and keep track of the weather and tell us when conditions are such that avalanches might occur.”
During the last winter season (2006-2007), CDOT triggered more than 700 avalanches, the majority in southwestern Colorado.
