The Colorado Department of Transportation has received an additional $45 million to fund snow and ice removal and to repair pavement statewide amid what the department’s executive described in a news release as “one of the harshest winters in memory.”

The Transportation Commission of Colorado allocated the additional funds after the transportation department exhausted its $84 million base budget and a $12 million reserve, according to the news release.

The 2022-2023 winter season is projected to be the third or fourth snowiest in the past 50 years, and the period between October and March was the coldest since 2010, the release states. That has resulted in unusual damage to roadways across the state.

The transportation department is currently assessing the impacts of the winter season and where best to spend the $25 million of the allocation that will go toward critical pavement conditions, such as the repair of potholes, the release states.

Along Interstate 70, snow, ice and commercial vehicles using chains damaged several areas, including recently repaved portions near Vail Pass, according to the transportation department. 

The department’s executive director, Shoshana Lew, said in the release that plow drivers logged nearly a million miles more than typical years to keep roads clear. Gov. Jared Polis noted in the release that the strong winter snowpack was a boon for the state’s economy.

The $25 million investment in road surface treatment will also allow the transportation department to address these issues without having to delay any planned projects, the release states.