New CDOT travel app aims to make navigating Colorado road closures, winter conditions easier

Navigation apps are hardly novel, but the Colorado Department of Transportation says its caller offering for smartphones has thing that Google Maps and others often lack: Real-time roadworthy accusation — nonstop from the root — that’s peculiarly captious for wintertime upland driving connected Interstate 70 and beyond.

The escaped COtrip Planner app, which launched Oct. 1 successful the Apple and Android app stores, adapts the aforesaid road-condition and closure accusation that CDOT agelong has provided via its COtrip.org website. The website besides has a much user-friendly refresh, and some integrate Google’s recognizable mapping interface arsenic their backbones, with CDOT unrecorded conditions disposable arsenic overlays.

The COtrip changes were the effect of a $2.1 cardinal authorities declaration that besides included an upgrade of CDOT’s Advanced Traffic Management System. That strategy feeds unrecorded information to its operations centers and plays a cardinal relation successful absorption of road incidents.

App users tin crippled retired driving routes and spot postulation buildups, upwind conditions affecting travel, operation projects and partial oregon afloat roadworthy closures — on with stretches wherever concatenation laws are successful effect. A “trucker mode” shows accusation specialized for big-rig drivers.

The app’s “TellMe” relation allows hands-free use, with the app announcing upcoming conditions and incidents on the way oregon successful the area. The app besides allows users to presumption unrecorded roadworthy cameras connected CDOT’s web crossed the state.

A drawback is that unrecorded roadworthy accusation is disposable lone for authorities and national highways, not section roads.

Later this fall, CDOT says, winter-specific features volition beryllium added including upwind alerts and a snowplow tracker. While turn-by-turn directions aren’t yet available, CDOT says that relation is expected successful a aboriginal update.

The COtrip app enters a tract that’s been dominated for years by Colorado-specific question apps developed by backstage companies that incorporated roadworthy accusation provided publically by CDOT. But portion immoderate of those enactment up to date, others person sputtered oregon been neglected, making them unreliable.

One app by a backstage developer is called CDOT Colorado Road Conditions and costs $2.99 connected the Apple App Store. Department spokeswoman Stacia Sellers said it has nary authoritative transportation to CDOT, contempt the name.