Crews with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) are prepared to lay salt on the road ahead of the upcoming severe weather conditions.
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News Center 7′s Brandon Lewis was at the ODOT Moraine Outpost to speak with the Press Secretary, Matt Bruning, on how they plan to keep the roads as safe as possible.
“Salt is the #1 tool in our tool bucket,” Bruning said.
For the salt to work, it needs to be dissolved into the road. When the temperature gets below 20 degrees, the salt becomes less effective and that is when they will begin to mix in different additives, Bruning said.
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ODOT will be using a brine that is prepared in house that consists of 23% salt and 77% water, Bruning said. When the brine is mixed, it preactivates it so it’s ready to go as soon as it is put on the ground.
Bruning shared concerns that at some point late tonight or early tomorrow morning as crews plow streets across Ohio, the roads may ice back up in what Bruning called a, ‘flash freeze.’
Snow plow crews are expecting the wind to be a battle for them as well, with snow blowing back onto the roadway after they clear it.
“There really is not a lot we can do ahead of it, we just got to stay on top of it,” Bruning said, “We just need people to stay off the roads if you can.”
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It is important if you must be on the roads, to allow plenty of extra time for travel and leave space for ODOT crews to work.
Last winter, ODOT snow plows were hit a total of 62 times, Bruning told News Center 7. This year, three of their snow plows have already been hit this winter across the state.
“Make sure you’re givin these crews a lot of room to get the job done,” Bruning said.
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