Road Crews, Drivers Surprised By Winter Driving Conditions

DENVER (CBS4)- The snow began falling hours before the sun came up Wednesday. The ground was still warm when the snow began to fall and it melted.

Then temperatures dropped and that snow started to freeze. That resulted in a frozen combination of ice and snow layered on the roadways just in time for commuters to hit the roadways.

Most drivers suffered through a commute that lasted at least twice as long.

"I actually gave myself twice the amount of time this morning and it took about four times the amount of time," said one driver.

"They were surprisingly bad. I have four wheel drive and it was pretty bad. I was slipping all over the place," said another driver.

"The snow came in earlier than predicted and it came in during the morning rush hour," said Denver Public Works Communications Director Ann Williams.

Williams admits the roads were not pretreated but also explained that with the kind of snow that hit the Denver metro area, the pretreatment would have been useless.

"Had we put liquid magnesium chloride on the streets, that would have been overwhelmed by that much snow pack on top of it as well as rendering it ineffective," said Williams.

Williams said crews will be clearing the roads until the work is done.