Two Iraqi war veterans are tasked with using almost military planning and precision to clear the wintertime congestion that has frustrated motorists on the corridor for years.
“A lot of the fundamentals are the same,” said Patrick Chávez, 44, who was hired in October as the mountain corridor operations manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Chávez served three tours in Iraq as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist and says that dealing with a traffic jam and an improvised explosive device have a lot in common.
“Absolutely everything stopped around an IED, and you had to clear the device as quickly and as safely as possible,” Chávez said.
“Whether it’s a bomb or a jackknifed semi in the middle of I-70, it’s still a high-stakes, high-pressure situation and you have to do your job well,” added Ryan Rice, who helped manage roads in and out of Baghdad in two tours as a U.S. Marine.
“The congestion in Baghdad was far worse than it is here,” Rice said.
Rice is director of CDOT’s transportation systems management and operations and who, along with Chávez, are leading a more aggressive push to keep I-70 moving when the snow drops.
Chávez will split time between CDOT’s offices in Golden and an expanded operations center at the Eisenhower Tunnel. He will directly oversee responses to any problems on the I-70 corridor from the Dotsero exit to C-470.
Chávez’s position is new, and he knows most of the heavy work will be done on weekends.
After 26 years in the Army, Chávez retired but said he wanted a challenge after his military career.
“And they said, ‘Well, this is what we want you to do, take a look at what you can do for I-70.’ So I definitely got what I wanted,” Chávez said.
Chávez will be joined by the 32-year-old Rice, who started at CDOT in 2013, along with 50 snowplows and 37 new personnel.
Some will work seven days on, seven days off during the winter season, Rice said.
“It all represents a shift in culture at CDOT,” Rice said. “We used to have minimal staffing on the weekends. But now we have a full contingent of corridor resources to support and execute our mission.”
“CDOT and the Colorado State Patrol want to give drivers all the information and tools they need to keep the weekend mountain commute safe and efficient,” said CDOT spokeswoman Amy Ford.
Throughout the winter, state troopers will press truckers and motorists to follow the state’s .
CDOT and the State Patrol will also emphasize Colorado’s , which requires motorists involved in minor accidents to move their vehicle immediately out of traffic to a safe location when the vehicle is driveable, no drugs or alcohol are involved and there are no injuries.
“Traffic accidents — not volume — account for as much as 60 percent of all traffic delays,” said State Patrol Maj. Steve Garcia.
I-70 motorists can also take advantage of real-time traffic information — a live audio stream on Saturday and Sunday during the peak travel times — available through and the .
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907, mwhaley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/montewhaley
