A New Concern Hit Me Today.

I don't know why it just hit me today, but I was on I-70 East bound through Utah and into Colorado. Maybe it's because it's almost September so I got to thinking, with all the barricades and chain up stations along this highway in particular, how often is that necessary? Obviously it happens, but is it as constant of a threat as I fear?I mean when I was in elementary school as much as they rammed "stop, drop and roll"down our throats, I thought bursting into flames at any minute was a great threat too.

Let's put it this way, I don't run that road in the winter time. I detour myself through WY. An extra hundred miles is a low price to pay in my opinion.

I live near Denver so I have this dilemma pretty frequently. I don't like taking I 70 in the summer, and I won't do it in the winter of at all possible. I 80 works just as good to SLC and Nevada, maybe an hour longer, I 25 to I 40 if going to AZ or SoCal. There are rare times in the winter when I 70 has better road conditions than the alternatives, emphasis on rare. The traffic is usually heavy between Denver and Vail all year round, and twice on Friday.

Those chain up stations are there for a reason. I love Colorado, but not I 70 through the mountains in winter, not even in a four wheeler.

So me being a company driver, will the alternatives even be an option? I guess if I'm driving and make it on time yes, but what say you two?

So me being a company driver, will the alternatives even be an option? I guess if I'm driving and make it on time yes, but what say you two?

I recommend you let your DM know that you'll detour around. Always make it safety oriented. If it has to do with your safety then he cannot deny you.

Something along the lines of "Good morning good sir, I70 in CO is extremely iced and hazardous road conditions. Definitely wont feel safe driving it. I'm going to go ahead and reroute myself on I80 through Wyoming. "

So me being a company driver, will the alternatives even be an option? I guess if I'm driving and make it on time yes, but what say you two?

I recommend you let your DM know that you'll detour around. Always make it safety oriented. If it has to do with your safety then he cannot deny you.

Something along the lines of "Good morning good sir, I70 in CO is extremely iced and hazardous road conditions. Definitely wont feel safe driving it. I'm going to go ahead and reroute myself on I80 through Wyoming. "

I will definitely keep that in mind.

If you ever haul hazmat through there you'll want to consider the i80 detour as well. Loveland Pass is not fun, and you can't haul hazmat through the Eisenhower tunnel between Denver and Vail unless they close the pass down. Windy, grades, switchbacks...it's not fun. Pretty though!

Let's put it this way, I don't run that road in the winter time. I detour myself through WY. An extra hundred miles is a low price to pay in my opinion.

This is experience at its finest. Take the high road (80) or the low road (40,93) if at a possible during the snow season. I've seen it snow in July in Colorado. As far as frequency, it's a craps shoot, but if you run out west, it's inevitable that you will have to chain up at some point.

Is it really as bad as you all make it sound?

Being that I started driving in may and and waiting on my own truck this florida boy is really nervous about winter lol. My trainer said he never uses his chains that of the weathers bad enough he's gonna use em it's bad enough that he'll stop. How accurate is this? Also other than "when the wheels spin" how do you know when of you are going to need to chain up?