El Paso County snow plows may leave driveway cleanup to you

On a snowy morning, the plow comes through to open the road, and that is the whole job. It is not there to clear every private driveway, and the way it works can leave you worse off at the end of your own drive than before.

Driveway and private-road approaches may be obstructed during snow removal. As the blade pushes snow off the travel lane, that snow has to land somewhere, and an approach right at the road edge often catches it. The county does not take responsibility for opening driveways or private roads blocked by plowing. The same hands-off line covers fallen trees: when a private tree drops into a road, crews may cut back enough to clear the lane, but the rest is the owner’s to deal with.

This is the part of winter that surprises people who move outside the Colorado Springs city grid, especially onto a long driveway, a private road, or a gravel-road edge. Your real plan for getting out on a deep-snow morning is your own equipment, a contractor on call, or an arrangement with the neighbors, not the county truck.

Worth sorting out before the first big storm rather than during it. The snow and ice plan and the Road and Bridge page lay out exactly which roads the county maintains and which it leaves alone, so you know which side of that line your access falls on.