200+ CDOT Plows On Snow Shift This Weekend

DENVER (CBS4)- More than 200 plows with the Colorado Department of Transportation will be patrolling the roads for a snow shift across Colorado this weekend.

Road crews will work to keep the roads clear as Xcel Energy crews requested help from neighboring states.

The utility put in a request on Friday for at least 90 crews to come in from surrounding states to help local efforts.

"We have 90 crews from out of state that will be coming to help us out putting our total crew number at 350 crews," said Michelle Aguayo.

At least 950 people will be out in the field, working to trim trees and respond to downed power lines.

An additional 250 people will work behind the scenes over the weekend answering phones and responding to customers' needs.

Xcel Energy said at the height of last month's blizzard, some 290,000 customers were impacted. That was the largest single-day outage in Colorado for Xcel.

CDOT urges drivers to be prepared for winter driving conditions.

"Pay attention to what closures are happening, go on cotrip.org and look at what's happening," said CDOT spokeswoman Amy Ford.

CDOT crews will attempt to pretreat as many roads as possible but overpasses, entrances and exit ramps should be approached with caution.

"You will very likely see our passenger traction laws as well as our chain laws in effect. Make sure you have good tires and equipment if you want to his some fresh tracks," said Ford.