You’ve likely seen the stripes of brine solution on our major North Texas highways.
Crews with the Texas Department of Transportation and North Texas Tollway Authority have spent the last few days spraying the salt and water mixture.
It can help prevent ice from forming on the road and can buy crews a little bit of time when slick spots start developing.
“That’s going to help us get a little bit of advantage over the ice once it starts happening, but we do want to remind drivers it’s not a cure all,” said Kenna Mitchell, spokesperson for TxDOT’s Dallas district. “During a sustained event there’s going to be more precipitation and it’s going to be imperative for our operations to be 24/7 during that time.”
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If this becomes a snow event, TxDOT has equipment to turn their trucks into snow plows.
Mitchell said crews will continue to use brine to treat the roads, along with laying a course mixture, to give drivers traction.
“There will be some long days ahead of running 24/7 and we’re going to make sure our equipment is ready,” Mitchell said.
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Crews with the North Texas Tollway Authority are preparing, too.
“We have that dreaded phrase in our area – wintery mix – and that could be just about anything,” said NTTA spokesperson Michael Rey.
Rey said their goal will be clearing one lane first and continuously improve on that as the winter storm passes, but he stressed drivers need to take it slow.
“We’ll prepare for a slow speed environment but there’s only so much we can do in this type of weather,” Rey said.
