Snow began falling before dawn in Denver and made road conditions tricky in many parts of the metro area. The snow continued into the evening.

De-icing crews were in “full operations” mode during the day.

Most passengers took the cancellations and delays in stride because the storm was well forecasted. A lot of people knew they should check their flights before going to the airport.

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Airport spokesperson Stacey Stegman said they didn’t expect any more cancellations Saturday evening.

“I think we’ve seen the bulk of them this afternoon and we expect to get back to business as usual tonight and in the morning,” Stegman said.

She most of the cancellations were with smaller aircraft.

“Many of those people are being rebooked to other aircraft,” she said.

Travelers going to DIA on Sunday should expect much longer security lines and should get to the airport even earlier.

Most of the roadways to and from the airport were in decent shape by Saturday evening.

About 1,700 flights usually take place at the airport on a normal Saturday.

Many airlines said they would be waiving change fees in the wake of the storm.

The 120th Avenue bridge in Broomfield will make it easier to get across Highway 36, but its construction could mean the end of Oscar’s restaurant.

It would be easy to miss Oscar’s. It’s tucked away behind a tree on a quiet lane, but patrons say hungry people won’t want to miss the food inside.

Oscar and Farah Majd have been cooking Greek and Persian food for more than a decade. Some of their customers come several times each week.

“I really like the food. I got the Mediterranean salad and the beef kabob,” one patron said.

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The husband and wife work there six days a week. They say it provides a good living.

“Everything I have is here. I (lose) my business, I (lose) my life,” Farah said.

It’s both an emotional and economical issue in the kitchen of Oscar’s.

“Honestly we don’t know what I have to do after this business — my age, my husband’s age — we are so upset, we are so angry,” Farah said.

Their son, Alan Majd, is also worried.

“They are trying to offer $300,000 for the entire property,” Alan said.

Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation says she can’t comment on the financial package for Oscar’s, but says CDOT is offering fair market value for properties impacted by the project.

“It’s not like we’re just going in and taking homes from people,” Stegman said. “There is a real estate evaluation, we encourage property and business owners to get their own, and then we talk through and come to an equitable solution so we don’t have to go through court proceedings.”

Still Oscar’s diners, some of whom like the idea of better traffic flow in the area, are concerned about the restaurant’s fate.

On Friday the Majds will close the restaurant and take their case to court.

The Colorado Department of Transportation will be running traffic through the Twin Tunnels near Idaho Springs in intervals. The goal is to actually help traffic run more smoothly down the road.

The area of I-70 sees its fair share of traffic.

“We are going to be doing 30-minute traffic stops in the Twin Tunnels because we have to do a whole bunch of testing in anticipation of our project that’s going to start in the spring,” Stacey Stegman with CDOT said.

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The project will widen the eastbound lanes of the Twin Tunnels to ease traffic congestion. Testing inside will be done Monday through Thursday before the project starts.

“We are drilling into the insides of the tunnel. We are looking for signals to find out where there are gaps or voids inside the tunnel so we know when we start work what to expect,” Stegman said.

Drivers can expect traffic to be stopped for 30-minute intervals next week between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. CDOT is apologizing ahead of time.

“We’re sorry about it. We wish we didn’t have to do this, but this is an important project and in the end it’s going to be for something good.”

When the Twin Tunnel project is officially under way traffic will be rerouted.

“We’re going to have traffic on the frontage road so traffic won’t be affected on the highway when we have to do blasting and do this major work.”

CDOT says those coming down from the mountains next week should plan ahead.

The southbound backup extended all the way past E-470.

Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation said the impact caused a girder on the bridge to bend about four feet. CDOT sent engineers to inspect the bridge.

There was no indication of when the lanes will be reopened.

An image of the girder (credit: City of Thornton)

Starting on Sunday, crews are closing Highway 6 from Golden to Highway 119 from 11 p.m. on Sundays through 10 a.m. on Fridays until June 29.

CDOT is installing a large fiber optic cable so there will be a wireless signal in the canyon. It’s also using the time to do rock mitigation and tunnel work.

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Outfitters who rely on kayakers and fishermen say the timing could not be worse because it comes at the height of high water season.

“This is really the crux of our season, it’s a very seasonal business that we own,” said Patty Pinkham with Golden River Sports. “The majority of our money comes in now between April and mid-July.”

Kayaking in Clear Creek Canyon (credit: CBS)

CDOT explained the timing had to be just right to do the project.

“We had to do work in the spring because we’re doing a lot of rockfall work,” Stacey Stegman with CDOT said. “A lot of our work is weather and temperature dependent so there isn’t a great time. And then we also have to work with all the casinos to figure out when is the optimum time for them.”

CDOT said it will work with some companies to escort clients into the area but Golden River Sports says that does nothing to help their sales of equipment to individuals.

The Colorado Department of Transportation has been trying to figure out what to do with the bridge for nearly a decade. The viaduct, which splits the Swansea and Elyria neighborhoods, was built in 1964. It now it handles a lot more traffic than it was designed to handle.

“It’s not a tunnel, but what we’re proposing is to lower the highway, so it’s a cut, in essence,” CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said.

The cut would be similar to what was done at Washington and Interstate 25 during the T-Rex project where traffic flows below ground level. On top of the traffic would be a deck with a park built over it.

The cut would be a piece of a $1 billion project to improve I-70 on the north side of Denver. Construction would begin within the next five years for what could be the most expensive highway project ever in Colorado.

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“I-70 is absolutely critical to the mobility of the metro area,” Stegman said.

Vincent and Judy Sanchez have owned the Stop-N-Shop in the Swansea neighborhood for 25 years. They have had steady business in the shadow of the I-70 viaduct, but that shadow is about to go away one way or another.

“We’re out of here,” Vincent said. “We’re in the way. Me and my wife and the store, we’re in the way.”

Some businesses and homes will be replaced by any improvement, so Sanchez and their customers have had mixed feelings.

“The ones that are going to get there houses taken out are very disappointed because they put a lot of money, a lot of work into their houses; and basically they’re hoping for a fair, fair deal,” Vincent Sanchez said.

“I’m going to lose my house and move someplace else, because I’m right next to the highway,” homeowner Betty Wonder said.

An artist’s rendition of the park (credit: CBS)

Sanchez says whatever happens with I-70, he’s hoping for appropriate compensation.

“My hope is they’re fair, if they relocate me, you know, a fair market price. Basically, that’s all we can really say,” he said.

Stegman says the state will do all it can to help homeowners and businesses that have to relocate.

“It’s good, they need it. The bridge is; we’ve seen it fall apart,” Vincent Sanchez said.

The first public meeting on the viaduct plan took place at the Commerce City Civic Center on Wednesday. The second will be Thursday starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Swansea Recreation Center on East 49th Avenue.

Under the plan one lane in each direction would go up between US 36 and 120th Avenue, but some drivers aren’t sure it would make a difference.

“In the morning I hate having to wait for an hour to get home when I know it could take me a half hour to get home if I didn’t have to sit in traffic,” commuter Barbara Padilla said.

“This is probably the worst stretch of highway in the Denver metro area,” Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

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CDOT would re-stripe existing lanes and narrow the shoulder. Buses and carpoolers could drive it for free, and solo drivers would pay a toll.

“Your savings will probably be anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes,” Stegman said.

“I think it would be good,” Padilla said.

Not everyone agrees.

“We’ve got enough traffic already. Building more lanes is not going to solve the problem,” driver Robert McDonough said.

It’s not a done deal. The project is dependent upon a federal grant, which CDOT will apply for next week. CDOT would contribute around $15 million, and a handful of north metro cities would chip in as well. Some drivers wish they wouldn’t.

“I’m not going to ride any toll road. I’m not going to pay money for what should be free,” McDonough said. .

CDOT says it would be money well spent.

“It preserves a lane well into the future so that people always have an option of avoiding congestion if they want to,” Stegman said.

If the toll lane happens, construction would likely begin next year. It would take six to 12 months to complete.

Department spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said Friday that CDOT is trying to tap into the private sector to come up with long-term infrastructure improvements along the interstate, which sees spikes in traffic during ski season and summer holiday weekends.

An average of about 25,000 vehicles travel the corridor on a normal weekday, she said, but as many as 50,000 could use it on the busiest days of summer. About 35,000 vehicles use the corridor during the average ski weekend.

Last year, the engineering firm Parsons submitted an unsolicited proposal to add toll lanes and eventually a transit system as a long-term solution, saying revenues would be sufficient so little to no state or federal money would be needed. Existing lanes on I-70 would remain free for all vehicles.

Firms have until April 23 to submit their interest in preparing comparable proposals, which will also include helping CDOT secure a public-private partnership for financing, designing, building and operating the improvements through a long-term concession agreement.

“It’s really just about the will and creativity of the private sector right now,” Stegman said, adding that the state is not in the position to fund such an extensive project.

“Whoever decides to submit, it’s going to be an investment on their behalf to go through the process,” she said.

CDOT also is considering allowing motorists to use the shoulders along parts of the interstate, and has used police pace cars to produce more uniform speeds and reduce congestion and crashes.

But Stegman said a long-term, major infrastructure project will eventually be needed.

“It’s primarily a weekend problem,” she said. “But we know that the way it is going, it is going to become a weekday problem as well.”

- By THOMAS PEIPERT, Associated Press

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (AP) — A program that uses police pace cars to reduce traffic congestion on Interstate 70 in the mountains this winter was suspended after too many skiers and other mountain visitors jammed the highway, creating a bottleneck.

There were too many cars trying to get through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels on Sunday and the vehicles were too slow for the police pace cars, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said Monday.

Stegman said the department will review the program and may use it later in the season when traffic is lighter.

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Stegman said no figures on traffic through the tunnels was available, but last year, more than 42,000 cars tried to make it through the tunnels over a similar weekend, squeezing into two lanes each way.

The pace cars have been used since the beginning of the ski season in a novel attempt to avoid bottlenecks that forced highway officials to periodically close the tunnels so cars don’t get stuck inside and prevent emergency vehicles from entering the tunnels in the event of an accident.

“It’s really too hard to figure the optimal time for using the pace cars,” Stegman said. “When traffic is light, it’s unnecessary and it slows traffic down. When it’s too heavy, the cars go too slow,”

Colorado lawmakers have wrestled with the problem for years, along with study committees. One proposal promoted a “zipper” lane on weekends, using moveable concrete barriers to temporarily add an extra eastbound lane, blocking one lane in the tunnel.

Stegman said that wouldn’t work because it would simply shift the backups to the westbound lanes. Other proposals included a train up the Interstate 70 corridor, which was deemed too expensive, along with proposals to widen the highway and even add a third bore to the tunnels.

The ski industry isn’t alone in bringing traffic jams to the mountains, said Jennifer Rudolph, spokeswoman for Colorado Ski Country USA, which represents most of the ski resorts in Colorado.

Campers, resort vacationers, mountain bikers and other mountain enthusiasts also need the extra room.

“There is no magic solution,” Rudolph said.

Stegman said the only solution is spending the billions of dollars needed to widen the highway.

- By Steven K. Paulson, AP Writer

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

There was more traffic along the Interstate 70 corridor because of the Winter X Games in Aspen. Volumes became so heavy CDOT couldn’t keep it moving with its new pacing program. It pulled the plug just before 3 p.m.

CDOT has been using pace cars or law enforcement officers to keep traffic moving slowly, but steadily, from the Eisenhower Tunnel to Floyd Hill. The harmonization program has been in place every Sunday since Thanksgiving.

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CDOT can now say the program is shaving as much as an hour off of the drive from the tunnel back to the Denver metro area.

A steady pace down the I-70 corridor saves more time than making the way through stop-and-go traffic. The time spent at a standstill takes away from the few times drivers might get up to 70 miles per hour.

“I tell people you have to slow down to go faster, and that’s really hard to think about. But it’s the same concept if you think about pouring rice through a funnel. If you dump a bunch of rice in, it clogs, you get a few that come through. But if you go slow and easy, you get a heck of a lot more through in a faster period of time,” Stacey Stegman with CDOT said.

The law enforcement officers who pace traffic are paid overtime by CDOT. CDOT says the program is not as effective from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel.

Having to stop traffic to let hazardous materials trucks through the tunnel, accidents, and too much volume can ruin the pace.

CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman says the closure Saturday is at the request of Kansas transportation department because of a large volume of accidents on the highway as a storm moves over the plains.

The storm dumped between 2 and 6 inches along the Front Range, and up to 9 inches in some mountain towns.

Stegman says treacherous conditions on the roads cleared up around 2 p.m. shortly after the snow stopped. The only major road closure was US 285 west of Denver because of jackknifed tractor trailer Saturday morning.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Spokeswoman Stacey Stegman says the idea is to keep traffic traveling at the same speed to avoid accidents by using police cars to keep traffic moving smoothly on Interstate 70.

According to the Summit Daily News, two trial runs with the rolling pacing plan has transportation and local law enforcement officials cautiously optimistic that the program will be successful, even though some motorists have complained that it just creates congestion.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

The next trial will be Sunday on eastbound I-70 between Silverthorne and Empire Junction, including the Eisenhower Tunnel at the Continental Divide, the Colorado Department of Transportation said Wednesday.

Silverthorne Police and Colorado State Patrol vehicles will serve as pace cars, driving 45 to 55 mph in the center or left lane with their emergency lights on. They will start the trip every five to 10 minutes from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The tactic is called “rolling speed harmonization.”

The first test was Aug. 13 on an eight-mile section of I-70 from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Officials said the pace cars reduced overall traffic speed, which in turn is expected to reduce collisions.

There were no wrecks during the first test period, but CDOT spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said the department doesn’t have enough data yet to draw conclusions about collision rates.

The Aug. 13 test was on a Saturday, and eastbound I-70 traffic averaged between 1,200 and 1,500 vehicles per hour.

Sunday’s test will likely have more traffic. CDOT said between 1,800 and 2,300 vehicles an hour use that stretch of I-70 on Sundays in late September.

CDOT plans a third test by the end of the year under winter conditions.

If the results of the tests continue to be positive, CDOT could begin using the technique during high-traffic periods on some winter weekends in 2012, the department said.

CDOT currently tries to regulate traffic on that stretch of I-70 by holding eastbound vehicles at the Eisenhower Tunnel if traffic exceeds the highway’s capacity. Tony DeVito, CDOT regional transportation director, said CDOT wants to avoid that because of the inconvenience to drivers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

“There’s been some history of rollovers and other types of accidents,” said Frank Hempen Jr., a senior civil engineer in the Loveland Public Works Department.

Hempen oversaw the reconfiguration of Interstate 25 and Highway 34 that was completed last June 28. An average of 40 crashes per year were reported within half a mile of the interchange between 2006 and 2010, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

In an email to CBS4, Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman wrote, “Mostly property damage, no fatals.”

Until now. Gary Agee, 52, was killed when his tanker flipped and caught fire Sunday night.

“I was saddened by that of course and upset about it,” Hempen said.

Agee was employed by Petroleum Transportation of Greeley. According to the Colorado State Patrol, his tanker was exiting northbound on I-25 and headed east on Highway 34 at the time of the accident. Preliminary investigation indicates the truck may have been traveling too fast in the curve according to CSP.

Hempen says that corner of the interchange was reworked to avoid dangerous merges. Drivers now encounter speed reduction signs before entering a protected right turn heading to a long acceleration lane. But is the curve safe for a fully loaded gasoline tanker coming off an interstate?

“The answer to that is yes, we went through a very rigorous design process,” explained Hempen.

Hempen says all interstate standards had to be complied with completely during the construction phase.

“So part of that review process is not only can cars handle it but can large trucks handle it,” added the supervisory engineer.

The upgraded interchange was built at a cost of $7.5 million plus another $2 million for landscaping. Funding for the safety improvements came from local tax dollars funneled through the Centerra Metro District.

Hempen is eager to learn the conclusions of accident investigators about the cause of the deadly accident. Still, it’s disturbing for the veteran road builder to see a fatality occur so soon after so much money was spent to make the interchange safer.

The rains washed out some roads and now crews have to wait for them to dry out to do repairs.

“We call it a ‘slip.’ It’s when the slope kind of slips and starts to drop. This is what’s going on, on (Highway) 125,” Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

Because of the wet spring, many mountain roads have been washed out, including Highway 125 near mile marker 24 in Jackson County. The drop-off along the two-lane highway is significant — about 20 feet — but only half a dozen cones are set up around the curve. Some of the cones have been knocked over or blown over the side. The white line at the edge of the road is practically gone.

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Stegman says that CDOT is aware of the situation.

“(Highway) 125 is an area where we’ve had this problem happening for a little bit at a time. It just got worse with the extremely wet weather we’ve had,” she said. “In about a month we’re going to go in and be able to go in and fix this area because we’ve had some time for it to dry out.”

A recent press release from the U.S. Forest Service explained the status of such road closures.

“Due to the extent of the problems and lack of available funds, some roads will remain closed until repairs can be implemented. The district is actively seeking funding for road repairs,” the release said.

Crews are now working to repair the Medano Pass Primitive Road after a thunderstorm rolled through Great Sand Dunes National Park last week.

The ramps from westbound 6th Avenue and Colfax Avenue to westbound I-70; and the ramp from westbound C-470 to westbound I-70 were also closed, according to Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

There were no injuries and no other vehicles were involved in the incident.

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Stegman said the truck was carrying what appears to be an asphalt hopper. It was a permitted oversized load, but was in the wrong lane when going under the bridge.

“It appears to have caused damage to the bridge and at least two girders. CDOT bridge inspectors will be evaluating the bridge to determine the extent of the damage,” Stegman said in a statement.

(credit: Mark Neitro)

Crews got the vehicle and the asphalt hopper out from under the bridge and I-70 was reopened around 5:30 p.m.

The driver was cited for careless driving and damage to a state structure.

The worker, who has been identified as David Wright, 64, was on westbound I-70 near Evergreen Parkway Friday afternoon. He reportedly got out of his company-issued truck and walked across the interstate to pick up some debris that was either on the side of the road or in the road. He was hit by a silver Honda Accord in the middle lane.

David Wright (credit: CDOT)

“He went in to the center lane of the highway to try to remove a tarp that had fallen into the highway and ended up being hit by a vehicle,” Stacey Stegman with CDOT said.

Wright was taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Lakewood. He’s listed in serious condition.

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Colorado State Patrol had been investigating the accident all Friday afternoon into the evening. They ended up shutting down all but one lane on I-70 to understand what happened.

“That’s something we are investigating. At what point should this person have seen the CDOT worker out there? Was there any mitigating or aggravating circumstances?” Trooper Heather Cobler said. “Those things are all going to be part of the investigation and included in the determination of whether charges need to be filed.”

CDOT said Wright was not alone, but he wasn’t part of a larger crew. He was moving west on I-70 possibly with a passenger when he got out of his car to remove the debris from the road.

CDOT crews have spent the past few days clearing debris from storm drains and patching roads and pot holes across the metro area.

One of the big trouble spots is on 6th Avenue in Lakewood. Late Tuesday crews were filling in cracks on the road. Workers say it’s tough, time-consuming work, but it’s something drivers will be seeing a lot of over the next couple of months.

“Our crews have really been playing catch-up from the last storm,” Stacey Stegman with CDOT said. “Just on Hampden alone they’ve patched in the neighborhood, today, close to 100 potholes.”

The goal is to prevent more flooding.

“(We’re) just trying to get our roads back to a condition that is drive-able before the rain comes and starts to wash it away again,” Stegman said.

Stegman says the road mitigation is just a temporary fix because during spring storms flooding is inevitable.

“Drains become overwhelmed and they’re old and we’re going to have some flooding,” she said.

Thirty crews totaling about 120 people were working through the night and 20 crews were on standby Wednesday morning.

The state keeps no central record of how much it spends on cellphones and wireless devices for state workers, rolling up hundreds of thousands of dollars each month during a budget crunch so severe that lawmakers have mulled over eliminating free breakfasts for needy schoolchildren.

State officials say they spend about $3.6 million a year on cellphones for state workers — but they concede that figure is an estimate based on a single month’s tab.

No one disputes that cellphones are an everyday necessity for some in state government. But records obtained by The Associated Press under Colorado’s Open Records Act show the state allows each agency to monitor its employee bills and usage.

The Governor’s Office of Information Technology, which tracks some of the state’s overall cellphone use, said taxpayers are currently paying for some 6,600 mobile devices — about one for every five state employees. Those devices include BlackBerrys, cellphones without email, and wireless Internet cards.

The AP sought public records from 19 state departments for this story.

OIT estimated that Colorado spends about $3.6 million per year on cellphones and other wireless devices, a figure based on multiplying last December’s state bill of about $313,000 by 12 months. OIT officials said it would be impossible to produce annual data for previous years because the information is not centrally maintained. OIT said it happened to have December’s tab but didn’t have other monthly totals available.

Those numbers don’t include employees of Colorado public colleges, whose budgets aren’t centrally tracked, or the state’s 100 lawmakers, who don’t have state-paid phones.

Rep. Jon Becker, a Republican who sits on the Joint Budget Committee, said it should be easier to determine how much the state pays — and for which services.

“Because $3.6 million, if that is the correct (number), and I do not know the correct number at this point, if that is the correct number, it’s not a drop in the bucket,” Becker said.

By comparison, Becker cited the proposed closing of a prison in rural southeastern Colorado to save money. Closing Fort Lyon Correctional Facility — which may be delayed amid concern about effects on local communities — would save Colorado $3 million this year.

Earlier this year, the JBC voted to cut $124,000 for free school breakfasts for about 56,000 low-income schoolchildren enrolled in the Start Smart Nutrition Program. Lawmakers changed their minds after public outcry.

Agencies say mobile devices are crucial for state employees. For example, most of the state’s 1,600 wireless Internet cards are used by state troopers in their patrol cars, allowing officers to check for outstanding warrants and other safety details during traffic stops, said Todd Olson, chief financial officer at OIT. Elsewhere, cellphones allow employees to quickly communicate from the field without having to make extra trips to the office.

“When problems or issues come up on projects, decisions need to be made quickly. Cellphones allow for quicker response time,” said Stacey Stegman, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation.

Colorado budget-writers told AP they aren’t aware of any agency proposing broad cuts to cellphone costs. One of the last statewide attempts came in 2008, when then-Gov. Bill Ritter ordered state employees to pool minutes with Verizon Wireless Services in a giant “friends and family” reorganization touted as “an exciting cost-saving change.”

OIT estimated the move saved $620,000 in 2008. In the fiscal year after the change, however, Colorado’s payments to Verizon dropped less than $6,000, to $2.22 million, according to the state’s Transparency Online Project System, which tracks vendor spending. Taxpayer-funded cellphones through other mobile carriers, including smaller numbers using Sprint or AT&T, weren’t affected.

Olson said the state will save an extra $200,000 per year by shrinking minutes further starting next month.

Colorado’s departments have a varied track record for monitoring how many mobile devices their employees have and how much they cost.

Most departments reported that spending and numbers of phones have stayed about the same or risen over the last three years, for which AP sought records.

The largest bill, according to records provided to AP, belongs to the Department of Transportation, which paid nearly $794,000 during the fiscal year that ended June 30. CDOT couldn’t say how many phones comprised that tab, and finding spending totals for previous years “isn’t centralized and would take considerable effort” to produce, Stegman said. She said that CDOT, one of the biggest state agencies, had 1,520 phones for about 3,300 employees at the end of February.

The Department of Natural Resources, another large state agency, provided an estimate of “700-800″ cellphones in its use. The department estimated it spent about $400,000 the last full fiscal year. In an email responding to an AP request, a DNR employee said that a thorough breakdown of cellphone spending “would require the hiring of temporary help.”

Government watchdogs who heard AP’s numbers complained that beyond the spending confusion, Colorado appears to have no central standard for which employees need mobile devices.

“Is anyone looking to see what taxpayers get for it?” said Amy Oliver Cooke, director of the Colorado Transparency Project and the Independence Institute. “There are some people, 24/7 they need to be able to be contacted, I get that. But is that every single one of them? I don’t think so.”

Another state facing drastic budget cuts is eliminating some government cellphones. California Gov. Jerry Brown gave up his cellphone in January and ordered half the state’s 96,000 employees carrying cellphones to do the same. Brown said his state could save $20 million a year by cutting non-essential cellphones.

“It is difficult for me to believe that 40 percent of all state employees must be equipped with taxpayer-funded cell phones,” Brown said when he issued his order.

A spokeswoman for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Megan Castle, said the governor’s office “is working with other state agencies regarding options to reduce costs,” but outlined no specific plans to cut cellphones.

Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman, another JBC member, said the state needs to balance the cost of cellphones against their usefulness.

“I’m sure there are things we could tighten up” in cellphone spending, Steadman said. “But on the other hand, people expect a certain amount of accessibility by everyone, private sector or public sector.”

Becker, with the JBC, said understands cellphones are necessary. But he said that doesn’t mean they should be off officials’ radar.

“Because if you can find efficiencies, and mind you, I don’t know if you’re going to find a huge savings inside of that line, but if we can find half a million dollars’ worth of savings in that line, it’s worth it,” he said.

- By Ivan Moreno and Kristen Wyatt, AP Writers

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation said the accident was between a heavy tow vehicle and a tanker truck about 4 miles east of the Silverthorne interchange.

Eastbound lanes were reopened shortly after 7 p.m. Westbound lanes were opened shortly after 11:30 p.m.

“Initial reports say the heavy tow vehicle rear-ended the tanker truck, which was carrying a blasting agent,” Stegman said in a statement.

Steve Lipsher with Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue said in a statement the Summit County hazardous-materials team and a hazmat team from the Colorado State Patrol worked on cleaning up the wreck. He said the tanker was carrying explosive gels.

The accident happened about 2:30 p.m. at mile marker 209.

“The tanker was rolled slightly onto its side and began spilling about 50 gallons of a blasting gel about the consistency of apple sauce. It was carrying an estimated 40,000 pounds of the substance, which is used for industrial blasting. It is considered stable unless exposed to sparks or flame,” Lipsher said.

Lipsher said a tanker had to be dispatched from Cheyenne to off-load the substance.

Trooper Nate Reed with the Colorado State Patrol says traffic was backed up westbound to mile marker 220. It was exiting at mile marker 217, approximately a 3-mile backup.

The tow-truck driver was injured and taken to the Summit Medical Center in Frisco.

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