With temperatures hovering around freezing, road crews throughout Metro Detroit say their main concern right now is refreezing temperatures. They are out salting the roads.
“The roads have been slick. “People have already started sliding out,” one driver remarked. “There does need to be a little bit more salt now.”
The teams working at the Oakland County Road Commission have gotten the memo from Mother Nature and then some, with around 50 trucks out countywide dousing the streets with salt while they wait to see what else is needed, with winter conditions prone to change.
“Right now, we’re just waiting to see what the weather does tonight. “If the temperatures drop and this all turns to solid ice, we’ll increase the number of trucks and continue to salt and blade,” said road commission spokesperson Craig Bryson.
We witnessed team members packing up their rigs at the Southfield salt dome, located off Franklin Street near Northwestern, as they prepared for a potentially long night.
“There’s enough slush right now, we’re using the underbelly plows to scrape that off the road, and we’ll continue that all night or as long as needed,” Bryson told me.
“If the temperature drops, we get things melted with salt, and if everything freezes, there’s a lot of ice.” And so we’re going to attempt to stay out there and keep putting salt down to prevent that from happening.”
With that in mind, the drivers we spoke with are reviewing their safety tactics.
“Just wake up a little earlier. Please take your time. Avoid speeding. Keep the music turned down and stay in your lane. “Windows defrost – I’m not sure if that’s what I do,” said one driver.
Reference: Metro Detroit drivers deal with icy roads ahead of Christmas
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