Snow threatens to close Denver airport again

? New Year’s travelers jammed the Denver airport Thursday, trying to get out of town ahead of a snowstorm that threatened to close runways and gum up the nation’s busy holiday travel season for the second time in a week.

By Thursday evening, 8 inches of snow had been recorded in the Denver area, and snow falling at a rate of 4 inches an hour piled up 18 inches in the foothills west of the city. The heavy snow forced officials to close Interstate 25, about 60 miles north of the city near Wyoming.

Gov. Bill Owens again declared a statewide disaster emergency, just a week after a pre-Christmas blizzard shut the airport for two days, stranded 4,700 holiday travelers and backed up flights around the country.

The broad storm stretched from the Rocky Mountains into the western Plains; winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of Colorado, Wyoming, western Nebraska and Kansas, New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle.

Earlier Thursday, managers at the nation’s fifth-busiest airport drew up snowplowing plans, and airlines urged ticket-holders to flee Denver early or delay departures until after the storm. United Airlines and Frontier, which together account for 80 percent of traffic at Denver International Airport, canceled 322 flights for Thursday evening and this morning.

A lone pedestrian walks through the park Thursday in front of the Colorado Capitol in Denver as a winter storm enveloped the interior West. After a blizzard dumped 2 feet or more of snow in the region last week, another storm has taken aim, packing high winds and heavy snows.

Greyhound also canceled all trips out of Denver today and more cancellations could follow this weekend.

The airport and airlines called in extra workers, and security lines moved relatively quickly.

After running out of bedding for stranded passengers during the first storm, airport managers lined up cots and blankets and urged food vendors to ensure they had plenty of supplies on hand.

In Denver, plows drenched streets with deicer, offices closed early and residents stocked up on groceries in preparation for the storm.

Federal courts closed early, as did many government offices and businesses in Denver and other cities in the state’s main population corridor along the Rocky Mountain Front Range.