GOLDEN, Colo. – Workers at the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Traffic Operations Center work around the clock, monitoring statewide road conditions.
Many refer to their Golden headquarters as the ‘CDOT Command Center.’
The moment you walk into the main room of the building, there’s a screen that covers an entire wall with live camera feeds of more than a dozen Colorado roads.
“We have about 400 cameras across the state that literally keep an eye on what's going on, on the roadways,” department spokeswoman, Tamara Rollison, told Denver7 on Sunday.
It is what those responders see that ultimately gets relayed to the public.
“We are always in a state of readiness,” Rollison added. “It's just a fact of life for CDOT. We're emergency responders.”
Their work results the instant alerts many receive to their phones. The information is pushed through Twitter, CDOT message boards, and text alerts.
“That kind of information you're not going to get on Google Maps or Waze,” Rollison said. “We also update all of our online systems so people who subscribe to that, they can find out exactly what's going on, on the roadways.”
This is a task that has involved CDOT courtesy officers who assist stranded drivers, and the Colorado State Patrol.
Rollison added, “It's a major coordination effort to keep our roads as clear as possible.”
She said monitoring statewide conditions is unique for Colorado.
“You have the mountains, then you have the plains,” she said. “It could be horrendous with blizzard-type conditions in the mountains, but it could be really nice in Denver.”
Throughout the day Sunday, however, consistent snow throughout the metro area made for a treacherous drive around town.
“Our plow drivers, they have been out since Friday when the weather was really nice, applying anti-icing materials on the roads,” Rollison said.
“It creates friction and helps to melt the snow and ice once the precipitation starts to fall,” she said.
It’s that effort that makes it easier for the plow driver to scoop up the snow.
Regardless of weather conditions, Rollison said Command Center employees work 24/7 to keep the roads running smoothly.
