Nearly 200 Colorado highway workers stormed the Capitol Friday demanding overtime pay due them for non-stop work during this winter's blizzard barrage.

Many of them say they haven't been paid overtime since Christmas. Some say they're owed as much as $1,000.

They blame relentless problems with a new $30 million computer system, which they say is crippling the state highway agency's ability to pay workers and vendors, and to buy needed supplies, including road salt and deicer.

"The biggest issue right now is just trying to get paid," said Herman Lynch, a Denver region CDOT worker whose says he's owed $850 in overtime. "We sell our labor to the state and they don't want to seem to pay us the overtime we've earned working in some of the most treacherous conditions."

The problem is the SAP computer system rolled out Nov. 1 by the Colorado Department of Transportation, six weeks before the Blizzard of 2006 crippled Colorado, forcing road crews to work seven weeks straight without a break.

Steven A. Chavez, director of human resources for CDOT, acknowledged the new computer system has caused major headaches for the agency. He said that the system is either overpaying or underpaying workers.

The computer system that was supposed to improve CDOT's operations is hamstringing workers' ability to do their job. Some workers say they have to spend three hours of an eight-hour day keying into the computer routine information about the jobs they've completed that day.

"With any new computer system there is an issue," Chavez said. "The employees have legitimate issues with pay. The frustration is getting the technology to match what people do on a day-to-day basis.

"Then we got hit with the snowstorms, and crews had to work endless hours. In many ways, it has been the perfect storm," he said.