About CDOT’s Division of Maintenance & Operations

Maintenance

Colorado is a big state – the eighth largest at 104,094 square miles. Our force of maintainers, engineers and operators are responsible for maintaining, repairing and plowing more than 23,000 total lane miles of highway. That’s nearly enough roadway to drive around our entire planet.

CDOT is responsible for taking care of the state highway, roadway and even airway systems through landscaping, construction and operating snow-removal equipment. Our employees receive training on specialized machineries such as loaders, motor graders, two-ton-plus snow blowers and plows to remove snow and maintain the roads and CDOT right-of-way. Fixing guardrails after collisions or repaving and striping operations are just a few tasks to keep drivers moving safely.

Operations

As a Rocky Mountain state, Colorado deals with unique risks — from avalanches and severe winter weather to mountain rock and landslides. Real-time Operations involve actively managing Colorado’s transportation system to keep people, goods and services moving safely and efficiently.

Throughout severe weather and traffic incidents, CDOT’s four Traffics Operations Centers (Pueblo, Golden, Eisenhower Tunnel, Hanging Lakes) are the heartbeat of real-time response and active management of incidents along the state’s roadway system.

In response to crashes, severe weather or other roadway incidents, the Traffic Operations Centers may deploy Traffic Incident Management (TIM) teams. The TIM program removes incidents from Colorado's highways and restores normal travel operations as safely and quickly as possible. Statewide, CDOT incident response teams respond to more than 23,000 annual events, improving responder and traveler safety while minimizing delays. 

One TIM resource available at no charge to drivers is the CDOT Safety Patrol Sponsored by GEICO, which offers limited roadside assistance to drivers in need.

Intelligent Transportation Systems

Whether it’s cameras, fiber optics, traffic signals or connected and autonomous vehicles, the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) branch provides the ingenuity, staff and resources to build world-class information systems. These innovative technologies create a safer driving environment and communicate critical travel information to the public. CDOT also deploys broadband fiber through its capital projects along state highways and works with service providers to expand broadband through their right of way public private partnership process.