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In the NoCo

Driving a semi on I-70 can be treacherous. This Colorado trucking school trains drivers for the challenges of mountain roads

Scott Maurer and Joe Trussell, two men wearing light gray polo shirts and sunglasses, stand with their backs to the camera as they coach a person in the cab of a big rig truck. The sign on the truck door has an image of a semi and reads "CDL 303" which is the name of the truck driving school that Scott and Joe operate.
Jeremy Sparig
/
Special to The Colorado Sun
Scott Maurer and Joe Trussell, owners of CDL 303. The Commerce City-based trucking school offers a specialized training program for drivers that's focused on safe mountain driving.

A drive through the mountains of Colorado comes with breathtaking views, occasional glimpses of wildlife – and plenty of steep, winding roads. Sometimes that becomes deadly, especially for truck drivers.

Even in good weather, mountain highways like I-70 can be uniquely challenging for professional truck drivers. And there’s no specialized training required for them to drive in the mountains.

That didn’t sit well with professional drivers Joe Trussell and Scott Maurer. A few years ago, they founded CDL 303, a trucking school based in Commerce City. They’re the only commercial driver’s license school in the country that offers a training program focused on mountain safety.

They spoke with Erin O’Toole about how they train drivers to understand the unique physics of mountain driving, and how to make the journey safely.

For more, check out our conversation with a retired Amtrak conductor with an unusual idea to help get semis safely through Colorado’s mountains – by loading them onto a train.

Scott Maurer and Joe Trussell operate CDL303, a Commerce City-based truck driving school. It offers a specialized mountain safety training course for current and aspiring drivers.
Jeremy Sparig / Special to The Colorado Sun
CDL 303 owners Scott Maurer and Joe Trussell

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.
As the host of KUNC’s news program and podcast In The NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.
Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS Newshour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.
Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.