Routt County driveway snow needs to stay off the county road

The morning after a big Routt County storm, the most frustrating spot is often the foot of the driveway, where the county plow has left a wall of packed snow across the entrance. That berm is not carelessness. It is the unavoidable result of how the winter road system works.

County plows push snow into the right-of-way alongside the road, which is where the snow has to go. Private driveways cross that same right-of-way, so when the plow clears the travel lane, some of that snow ends up piled across the driveway mouth. Clearing it back out is the homeowner’s job; maintaining private driveways and parking areas is not part of county service.

What matters most is where that cleared snow lands. It has to be disposed of on the owner’s own property. Pushing or throwing it onto or across a county road, even just to get it out of the way, turns a private chore into a public hazard. A pile in the travel lane becomes an obstacle for the next car, slows the plow on its return pass, and pushes the problem onto whoever lives downhill.

None of this is unusual for mountain living; it is just the housekeeping that comes with deep snow and shared roads. Before the first storm, it helps to walk the property and settle where the season’s plowed snow will go, so the road, the ditch, and the driveway all keep working through March.