The annual St. Patrick’s Day crackdown on drunken drivers got under way Friday with increased law enforcement patrols on streets and highways and members of safety coalitions spreading the word with publicity.

Colorado State Patrol troopers, city police and county sheriff’s deputies will be particularly alert for drunken drivers through Wednesday.

“We’ll have two extra cars out,” said Capt. Adrian Driscoll with CSP Troop 5A in Durango. “We’ll have saturation coverage around Durango.”

Durango police Lt. Ray Shupe said there would additional patrols, but he wasn’t saying how many.

At bars throughout the state, highway-safety groups are distributing posters and coasters that carry a message: Don’t drink and drive.

The Colorado Department of Transportation administers grants from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration for safety education, said Nancy Shanks, the CDOT communications manager in Durango.

Grants pay for highway safety booths at fairs, scholarships for teens to attend driver-safety classes and speaker presentations.

The Southwest Colorado Coalition for Occupant Protection carries out various activities, Shanks said. The coalition includes members from CDOT – Shanks among them, local police departments, the Bayfield Marshal’s Office, the Southwest Regional Emergency & Trauma Advisory Committee, the San Juan Federal Lands Center and insurance agencies.

The St. Patrick’s Day crackdown has been an annual event since 1997, said Sam Cole, CDOT safety communications manager.

The number of DUI arrests statewide has leveled out the past two years, Cole said. In 2013, there were 484 arrests, and last year, 486. The number of arrests from 2009 to 2012 were, respectively, 668, 686, 704 and 424.

daler@durangoherald,com