Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the number of citations that were issued last year for chain law violations.

Private companies would be able to sell and install tire chains for motorists traveling along Interstate 70 under a Colorado bill being proposed by a bipartisan group of Western Slope lawmakers. 

Senate Bill 69 creates a permit system for companies to operate at designated sites along the interstate to help motorists during the winter season. Such models already exist in states like California, Washington and Oregon. 

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Lawmakers say the legislation is aimed at bolstering compliance with a state law that requires chains for large commercial vehicles traveling on I-70 and other major roadways ​​between Sep. 1 and May 31. 

Last year, Colorado State Patrol issued 976 citations for commercial vehicles that failed to comply with the chain law and 120 citations for violations that resulted in a road closure, according to the agency.

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“Chains aren’t the silver bullet to preventing all crashes, but if more trucks and cars have proper traction, I think we’ll see a reduction in crashes, a reduction in spin-outs and delays on the highway,” said Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, a prime sponsor of the bill. 

The bill directs the Colorado Department of Transportation to allow vendors to operate along certain parts of the highway, such as designated chain-up sites where vehicles can pull over to install their chains. The transportation department currently has 20 of these sites along I-70 in both directions. 

It’s the latest attempt by lawmakers to prevent pervasive closures on a critical artery for commuters, ski enthusiasts, vacationers and interstate commerce. Legislators approved a bill last session that bars truckers from being in the left lanes of I-70 at certain key points such as Glenwood Canyon and the west side of Vail Pass. 

While that proposal faced some initial pushback from the trucking industry, this year’s bill has support from the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, an industry trade group. 

The association’s longtime president, Greg Fulton, said in an email that the bill is an “important piece in an overall puzzle of actions that we believe are needed to improve safety and mobility for all travelers during the winter.”

Fulton said chain assistance is just one of a series of solutions the association has proposed for improving travel along I-70. Other ideas include safer sites for chain installation and removal, more spots where truckers can pull off and park to rest and increased enforcement of chain and traction laws for all motorists — not just truckers. 

Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, also a sponsor of Senate Bill 69, hopes that expanded chain assistance will make a difference. 

“We’re just trying to keep chipping away at this thing to see if there’s something that might work better,” Catlin said.. “Added to everything else, maybe that’ll be part of the answer.” 

Finding solutions to crashes along the mountain corridor continues to take on new urgency as local officials seek harsher penalties for drivers who don’t comply with chain requirements. 

In a letter to Gov. Jared Polis this week, the town of Vail raised concerns over repeated I-70 closures that disrupt worker commutes and ski travel and block critical routes for first responders. 

The town called the state’s $1,150 maximum fine for roadway closures “exceedingly low, considering the state’s own analysis indicating an economic cost of nearly $2 million for every hour I-70 is closed.” 

Vail Mayor Travis Coggin has called for fines worth $20,000 for violators following a Dec. 30 incident in which more than a dozen semitrailers became stuck on Vail Pass during a snowstorm due to a lack of chains. 

A week later, a heavy truck rollover caused a roughly five-hour closure on westbound I-70 in Dowd Junction while another rollover on Jan. 22 in West Vail stranded people for hours.

Fulton said Colorado’s chain laws are already the strictest in the country, adding that before considering higher fines the state “must create the environment and conditions so truck drivers can safely comply with the law.”

I-70 Coalition Executive Director Margaret Bowes said while harsher penalties could be one way to increase chain compliance, it needs to be accompanied by an increased presence from Colorado State Patrol given the sheer volume of I-70 traffic. 

“It’s one thing to have a law and another one if you can’t enforce it,” Bowes said. 

Senate Bill 69 does not include additional fines for drivers who violate state law. But it provides “another tool that can help us work towards better compliance,” Bowes said.

Along with creating a third-party vendor system for chains, the bill requires rental car companies to notify drivers about traction and chain laws and the penalties for violating those. 

“We know that rental cars on the I-70 mountain corridor are sometimes not compliant,” Bowes said. “We would like to see the rental car industry become a partner with us in ensuring that cars traveling on the mountain corridor are compliant with the passenger traction law.”

Senate Bill 69 is also sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, D-Glenwood Springs, and Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs. The Senate Transportation and Energy Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to advance the bill, which now heads to the an appropriations committee before getting a full Senate vote.