Colorado Department of Transportation to shift millions designated for snow removal to fire mitigation

The Colorado Department of Transportation hasn't done a lot of snow removal work this winter. In fact, so little, there's a lot of money left over.

So $12 million in funding will be transferred over to deal with another natural phenomenon, wildfire.

"If we have a big snow season, we have some extra funds to make sure we are plowing the roads," explained CDOT's Bob Fifer, deputy director of operations. 

Fifer also explained it was the first time in memory the money has been moved over from snow removal to fire mitigation.

"That contingency fund still exists," he said. 

Now, there is a need to keep flammable trees and brush back from roadways, which can serve as fire breaks.

"That will give a little buffer for the road so that fire does not hop from one side of the road to the other side of the road," Fifer said.

CDOT used burn probability maps from Colorado State Forest Service that show wildfire risk to determine in what areas roads are in particular danger.

"We provide routes in which first responders go to and people evacuate from," Fifer said.

They will clear back from roadsides. In a big mitigation effort, that will mean the removal of potentially thousands of trees.

"Within the first 15 feet of the pavement, we're going to look at trees that are more than 50% dead or diseased, and we're going to cut those down and chip on site, except for the diseased ones we'll take away," Fifer explained.

From Jefferson County west to Garfield County out the I-70 corridor will be a first priority, but then up and down the Front Range, state highways will potentially receive the treatment.

"Within those counties like Jefferson County, we are going to look at roads like Highway 74, 287, Highway 72, that are small roads, but are impactful for kind of large communities up in the mountains. They only have a few ways out," Fifer said.