With the sun beating down and the temperature in the mid-70s, the Colorado State Patrol on Friday checked to see whether commercial truck drivers at a port of entry about 40 miles west of Denver had their snow chains handy.
By noon, troopers had issued 13 citations at the Dumont port of entry for violating the state mandate that commercial motor vehicles carry chains on Interstate 70 in the mountains from Sept. 1 to May 31.
A new law expands where commercial vehicles weighing more than 16,000 pounds must carry those chains. They include mountain highways in parts of northwest, central and southwestern Colorado. The area covered on I-70 has been expanded from west of Morrison to the Utah state line.