Watch I-70 driver get out of car and shovel snow in middle of clogged Colorado interstate during mountain storm

Snow clearing crews in Colorado's high country have been working hard during the powerful winter storm that is currently impacting travel. That includes on all of the Interstate 70 mountain corridor, where there were some problems despite all of the crews' efforts on Tuesday. 

In the afternoon traffic was at a standstill in I-70's eastbound lanes from Silverthorne to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel. Officials from the Colorado Department of Transportation put a safety closure in place in that part of Summit County because all of the snow accumulation was leading to several vehicle spinouts.

CDOT cameras showed vehicles stuck in standstill traffic during the safety closure. At one point, someone got out of their car and started shoveling in the middle of the highway.

Other drivers and passengers also started getting in and out of their cars.

Then at one point every stuck driver had to do their best to move away from the middle of the roadway so an ambulance could get through.

The safety closure was lifted before nightfall, but then at 5 p.m. the eastbound lanes were shut down again. Other parts of I-70 in Colorado's mountains remained open, although it was slow going for drivers in the snowy, dangerous road conditions.

CDOT wrote in an alert on their website cotrip.org "Long-duration moderate to heavy snowfall rates will make mountain driving conditions very difficult through tonight, and perhaps into much of Wednesday. While the heavy volume of snow will contribute to the majority of impacts, stronger winds will also support areas of blowing snow and reduced visibility, especially over the passes in the central and southern mountains."