Imagine a winter morning with a fogged-up windshield and that sinking feeling in your stomach knowing you have to climb a mountain pass on a completely flat road. For thousands of drivers in Colorado, the first thing they did before getting in their cars in the morning was the same: visit the CDOT traffic camera website.
These images allowed you to see the condition of the road in real time. Even if the road was in poor condition and quite icy, at least you could prepare yourself mentally for what lay ahead on your journey. However, this will no longer be possible: the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has removed 136 traffic cameras from crucial locations. This includes 17 devices on I-70, the vital corridor connecting cities to ski resorts, and most of the devices on legendary passes such as Berthoud, Loveland, and Rabbit Ears.
It’s not that the state of Colorado has little regard for the road safety of its citizens, but rather that it has been an expensive and frustrating battle of costs and performance. So much so that they have risked not renewing the camera contract, even those on mountain roads, just as the snow season is approaching in a few weeks.
Contracts, Costs, and Conflict
CDOT’s contract with LiveView, the external provider of these cameras, expired in July 2025. Although the exact duration of the contract is not public, the service has been in place for so many years that drivers on Colorado’s roads took it for granted. CDOT confirmed that the cancellation was not an administrative error, but rather an action motivated by “cost and contractual limitations.” The private company that is paying for it is also subject to many financial penalties due to non-compliance: a third of the 136 cameras affected were rarely functional, even before the contract expired. This is understandable, as many drivers complained about black screens (and rightly so). Given this lack of maintenance, the state of Colorado has had to dispense with the company’s services and has not renewed the contract.
The real economic blow came when OT tried to replace the service by looking for a new external provider. After all, there was already a fairly extensive network in place, but the bids they received were astronomical. CDOT reported that the new rates were 3 to 10 times more expensive than the previous rate with LiveView. This price increase was completely unsustainable for their budget, and the agency had no choice but to let the contract expire and shut down access to the cameras completely.
Uncertainty in the Mountains
For residents who commute regulary, the impact is direct on safety and daily life planning. The removal of these cameras creates more uncertainty when it comes to getting in the car and hitting the road.
Cameras were crucial because the official CDOT system, COTrip.org, often has a “real-time delay” in its reports. People relied on the actual image—seeing the accumulated snow or ice with their own eyes—to make the decision whether or not to go out. High-risk areas are, naturally, the most affected, areas where real-time information is vital to avoid closures and accidents.
CDOT New Cameras… in the Future
The CDOT has been sitting on its hands, but drivers need to be patient and give it time. The agency has announced an internal replacement plan to take full control of the cameras. To this end, they have allocated $8 million to finance the project.
However, they do not plan to replace all the cameras that were lost, but rather to install approximately 66 to 69 new cameras (more than half of the 136 that were removed). Although the project began in September 2026, its completion is projected for October 2027.
In other words, it looks like we will go until the end of the year and into 2026 without cameras on Colorado’s roads. For now, mountain travelers face at least two winter seasons without the previous full coverage.