Colorado transportation officials plan to nearly double the number of remotely controlled avalanche blasters installed on mountain ridges above highways, a project estimated to cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to prevent potentially catastrophic snow slides.
They’ve settled on a strategy of firing these blasters at night to trigger slides as part of efforts to keep roads across the western half of the state safe and open for trucks, tourists and residents of growing communities.
Bolted and cemented into delicate tundra at elevations up to 12,600 feet, some of these mechanisms ignite propane, oxygen and hydrogen gas in concussive blasts, while others dangle explosives from 30-foot metal towers over slide paths.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has been firing 54 blasters about 200 times a year to pre-empt natural avalanches. An updated state inventory shows highways, including Interstate 70, running through more than 500 avalanche paths.
The remotely detonated night blasts add to another 400 blasts conducted during the daytime by CDOT crews firing 70-year-old Army howitzer artillery cannons into snow-laden mountainsides, dropping bombs from helicopters and deploying teams of skiers who carry explosives in backpacks.
➡ Continue reading on The Denver Post
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
