Winter weather is expected to cause some problems for commuters as they try to navigate state roadways this weekend. Road crews are readying equipment so they will be prepared to treat icy highways in central Arkansas.
Danny Straessle works with the state highway department. He says a good mixture of sand and salt is on standby to aid de-ice efforts for area bridges and overpasses.
“[Maintenance crews] will go to 12-hour shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. continuously throughout the weekend, as we get through this first winter weather event and of course we have one that’s going to follow it as well,” said Straessle.
He says workers would need about an inch of snow before they could use plows to remove slush.
“We have spent the week loading plows onto our dump trucks. We have drop-in spreaders that go in the payload section of those trucks,” Straessle said. “We don’t have any actual snow plows, but what we do is retrofit our regular maintenance dump trucks, attach plows to the front of them, and add drop spreaders that will disperse granular material, like salt or sand.”
In anticipation sleet and freezing rain, Straessle says people can go to the I Drive Arkansaswebsite to easily find information on which roads have ice and snow and which roads are clear.
