The Colorado Department of Transportation this winter will start letting truck drivers use a new tire device called AutoSock when chain laws are in place because of snow.

The fabric device can be slipped over tires much more quickly then chains, CDOT said in a news release Monday. CDOT is testing how well it works on mountain highways this winter.

Let’s hope they have plenty of snowstorms for their research.

It is made by Norwegian company AutoSock. Here is their Web site. It looks like there is one company in Colorado, the McGee Company in Denver, that sells it.

I tried to call AutoSock to ask how much it costs, but I couldn’t get through to Norway.