EL PASO COUNTY — Snow is getting a lot of attention on a sunny warm October day in eastern El Paso County. It is Snow Week for El Paso County Public works. “All the things they’re going to be up against here shortly,” said Public Works, Training Program Coordinator, Scotty Hall. Before snow starts sticking to roads there is a week of training that starts in a classroom, then outside for practical experience.
Both newbies and long-timers go through a series of stations set up for training. They do things like loading anti-skid material, attaching plow-blades, and putting chains on tires.
This year there has been added planning for the training curriculum. The bomb cyclone that stranded drivers and snarled roads back in March impacted roads crews. Public Works leaders did multiple assessments happened after the storm for a critical analysis of what went right, wrong, and how to prevent issues in the future. "We're absolutely training and planning towards something like that, if it doesn't happen again great, but, we're going to be ready for it."