Snowmass takes legal measures to ensure winter road safety

With road grades over eight percent, Snowmass requires additional traction for vehicles when winter strikes.

The Snowmass “Chain Law” was put into effect earlier this week as heavy snow hit the Roaring Fork Valley. The law, which requires commercial vehicles to use chains on at least four tires once in town limits, is used to prevent large scale road blockages, according to Snowmass Police Chief Brian Olson. The Snowmass Police Department implements the chain law when they deem the road susceptible to vehicle sliding.

Though they put the law into effect on Monday, a semi-truck slid off and blocked Brush Creek Road during conditions described by Pitkin County Sheriff Michael Buglione as the worst “seen in 30 years.”

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“That’s a perfect example of why we enacted the chain law,” Olson said. “And this person disregarded it.”

It took several hours for the town to pull the semi out of the ditch, blocking one of the two major roads in the town. Olson said slide-offs like the one on Monday happen a few times per year.

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Commercial vehicles breaking the law can be fined up to $500. The law was lifted on Thursday. 

“From a safety standpoint, any truck or vehicle getting stuck in the road now creates an unusual hazard,” Olson said. 

A slide-off can create additional accidents because other cars will have to find their own way around the vehicle until police arrive to direct the scene, he said. 

“Keeping people from getting stuck on the roadway is an advantage for public safety all the way around,” he said.

But the most challenging vehicle blockages to manage are those that occur on side streets, parking lots, and in the village center, where large commercial deliveries happen, he said. 

Commercial vehicles that disregard the decades-old chain law are mostly from out of state, Olson said. Those who frequently commute to and from the town generally obey the law. 

The town also implements a “Traction Law,” which they enacted about two years ago after the town saw benefits from a similar state-wide law, Olson said. The law requires all vehicles — commercial or otherwise — to have four-wheel-drive, chains, or “mountain-snowflake” rated tires, with tread at least three sixteenths of an inch deep between Sept. 1 and May 31. 

“If they’re not, we can write you a ticket if you end up getting stuck because of the equipment,” Olson said. 

Snowmass Transportation Director Sam Guarino said he estimates one to two vehicles slide off the roads in every major snow storm. 

“But they do a pretty good job of getting them out pretty quick,” he said.

Some of the steepest roads in the town are heated and don’t accumulate snow or ice, such as on Carriage Way, he said.

Though he doesn’t have statistics on slide-offs, he estimates most happen on “20 mile-per-hour curve” by the Snowmass golf course. 

Winter road conditions could be back in Snowmass this weekend. 

There is a 90% chance of snow showers in Snowmass on Saturday, expected to deliver one to two inches, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday will bring a 30% chance of snow showers and Monday a 50% chance.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.