VIDEO: Colorado Makes Driving Safer With 105 Millimeter Howitzer
No, the State of Colorado isn’t blowing up grandmas for doing 10 mph under the limit in the left lane. But the state’s Department of Transportation is keeping people safe by clearing avalanches with World War II artillery.
Armed with a 105 mm howitzer — possibly an M101A1, though please feel free to correct us — the Colorado DOT clears avalanche prone areas by shooting shells up to 7 miles away into the mountain tops. Those shells have a secondary charge that explodes on impact to trigger a controlled avalanche.
According to KOB4, the howitzer, which the state leases from the U.S. Army, was recently used to clear the Red Mountain Pass in Colorado’s high country. The guns were set up on concrete pads along the pass and aimed at strategic targets in the war against insurgent snow.
Let’s hope the state doesn’t set these up at DMV offices in the off season.
More by Mark Stevenson
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The Washington State DOT has a two M60 tanks and a howitzer they use for avalanche control. One is stationed on Stevens pass and one on Snoqualmie pass. The one at Stevens is parked at the Wellington Trailhead. It is always amusing to take people for a hike an pull into a parking lot in the middle of the forest with a tank parked in the middle.
Pfft... I could make driving much safer for *me* with just a roof-mounted minigun.
More effective than yodeling in the Alps.
Looks like a M101A1 to me although I was never an Artillery guy. I think the military still uses these for ceremony and I think it started as a 105mm in WWII. It would make sense for these purposes.