School buses in Denver are off to a hot start this morning, running a full schedule and on time after frigid temperatures hampered service Monday.
More than 300 Denver Public Schools buses are in service this morning after mechanics, drivers and other staff show up early or worked overnight to avoid a repeat of frosty failures.
“All our buses are in operation and on time,” said Alex Sanchez, a district spokesman.
On Monday two dozen buses in Denver’s fleet wouldn’t start because of below-zero weather and pickups for eight schools were delayed for up to an hour.
To make sure service ran on time this morning Denver buses were started about 11 last night to warm up for a little while, and drivers and mechanics reported an hour early today, showing up at 4 a.m. instead of the usual 5 a.m., Sanchez said.
Other school districts in the metro area and along the Front Range, including Cherry Creek and Jefferson County, suffered in Monday’s extreme cold weather as well.
This morning, however, both Cherry Creek and Jefferson County, like Denver, took extra measures to ensure that their buses would be on the move.
“It’s running like clockwork,” said Tustin Amole, a Cherry Creek spokeswoman.
Jefferson County spokeswoman Lynn Setzer said: “All buses are running on time.”
This morning’s commute in the metro area was not without problems, however, as a traffic accident shut down Interstate 70 near Brighton for about an hour, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The westbound lanes of the highway shut down about 6 a.m. and early commuting traffic into Denver backed up quickly. The lanes were reopened about 7 a.m., CDOT reported.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
