E-470 to the rescue! On March 13, 2019, the Denver Metro Area experienced an extreme weather event – a bomb cyclone. The storm produced hurricane-strength winds up to 80 miles per hour and more than 13 inches of snowfall in less than 24 hours. These conditions provided motorists and Road Management staff with less than one quarter-mile visibility and drifts along the roadway that topped out at several feet deep. Approximately 200,000 people were left without power throughout various periods of the day and thousands of motorists were stranded.
That's where E-470 stepped in. Not only did E-470 keep the road open, become a housing shelter for stranded motorists, but also used this opportunity to test the effectiveness of its recently implemented Proactive Traffic Management Program. This program is run by E-470's Traffic Management Center (TMC). The TMC is the hub of all traffic management systems where information concerning traffic operations is collected and analyzed to make modifications to each system as necessary, including coordinating responses to events in real-time. This allows E-470 to provide timely information to motorists on social media and via our variable message signs. Integration with 52 CCTVs that cover the entire tollway offer expanded surveillance and improved incident response and management, which was key to our extreme weather response in March 2019.
Throughout the entire storm, the TMC, Roadside Assistance staff, maintenance team and law enforcement went above and beyond typical services while enduring white-out winter conditions. With incidents and requests for service flying in at an overwhelming pace, the entire Road Management team persisted throughout the storm to provide outstanding customer service to law enforcement, E-470 management and the traveling public.
