Driving down Colorado highways, you can still disappear — the state recently lost 136 surveillance cameras — but the system covers at least 1,000 of the 9,100 miles as transportation officials push to provide certainty about road conditions and monitor traffic.
More than 1,000 cameras scan highways statewide – some can “see” as far as three miles — streaming images available to anyone using COtrip.org, a Colorado Department of Transportation smartphone app. That’s separate from a growing network of photo radar cameras that measure speed.
CDOT officials describe their video surveillance as a backup for the road and weather information already available to travelers via the app and CDOT’s publicly-accessible network of weather stations around the state.
“Our goal is to provide reliable, consistent camera coverage in critical areas to best support highway safety and operations. The focus isn’t on simply having more cameras, but on having cameras we can count on, especially along mountain corridors where conditions can change rapidly,” CDOT spokeswoman Stacia Sellers said.
Colorado officials have been retooling the network. As part of an $8 million project, they recently removed 136 cameras after terminating a deal with LiveView Technologies, due to what state officials deemed “poor performance,” Sellers said.
LiveView “failed to meet its service-level agreements and is under financial penalties due to poor performance,” Sellers said. “Many cameras were down for extended periods, sometimes months, and CDOT could not directly troubleshoot or repair them since they were owned and operated by an outside vendor. That created major gaps in coverage when we needed it most.”
Utah-based LiveView, which promotes “AI-driven mobile security for every threat,” didn’t respond for comment.
Before October 2027, CDOT crews will install 69 new cameras in mostly remote areas, replacing some of those 136 cameras, which haven’t been operating since July 20.
Camera coverage along parts of the high-traffic Interstate 70 corridor has become “redundant.” Mountain passes lacking connectivity remain relatively dark.
“Without fiber or reliable cellular coverage along many of the mountain passes, we currently cannot maintain cameras in some remote areas, which is why we are replacing 69 of the cameras in these areas,” Sellers said. “We recognize the importance of having cameras in these remote mountain corridors, especially in winter. However, where there is no cell service, there is no way to transmit camera data.”
It’s the same challenge drivers face if stranded and calling for help.
Across Colorado, interstate highways are completely covered. Most of the 136 cameras that were removed last summer were positioned on state and U.S. highways in mountainous western Colorado. CDOT provided a list showing former contract LiveView locations where cameras were removed and where they will be replaced.
On the I-70 Vail Pass with its heavy truck traffic, “there will be no impacts,” Sellers said. On Berthoud Pass linking I-70 with northwestern Colorado, where a summit camera was removed, CDOT crews have set up a trailer equipped with a camera so that monitoring of that road will continue.
Even without video surveillance, drivers can check highway conditions using a COtrip color-coded map, which indicates whether a road is dry, snow-packed or icy.
“Cameras offer a backup visual confirmation for folks on what the roads look like,” Sellers said, while the road condition map “will let folks know what they are up against before leaving and provide the information they need.”
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