North Texas and City Highways Prepare for Winter Weather Tuesday

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Winter weather can affect the trip on Tuesday, with cold rain during the morning drive and potential snow on the way home.

On Monday, TxDOT crews in North Texas were busy pretreating roads with brine all day, especially bridges and driveways.

“It has been relatively warm up to this point, so we expect the ground to isolate major lanes for the most part,” Val Lopez of Fort Worth County told TxDOT. “But it’s these elevated surfaces that are vulnerable to icing, and that’s what we’re focusing on today.”

Brine, which is a mixture of salt and water, basically acts as an antifreeze.

“So our main goal is to make sure the ice doesn’t stick to the roadway,” Lopez said. “Once it sticks to the bridge deck, it becomes very difficult to remove. The brine is a very useful tool, one of the tools in our toolbox that helps keep ice from sticking to our roads.”

TxDOT Dallas treated bridges in Collin, Denton, Rockwall, and Dallas counties starting Monday morning, as well as $80 in Kaufman County and I-20 in Terrell.

TxDOT teams will be on 24/7 surveillance until the weather improves and the threat of sleet is gone.

“We will continue to monitor the roads,” Lopez said. “There is a transition point where we move from prevention to active treatment. At this point, as a rule, our products and procedures do change. Instead of using brine, we will start using a granular product – sand, salt, salt-based de-icers, chemicals. anti-icers.”

The North Texas Tollway Authority is suspending salt delivery on highways it controls, but will be able to sprinkle salt if/when temperatures drop to freezing.

The City of Fort Worth also does not pre-treat with brine.

“Usually on a day like this, when winter weather is expected, trucks come to us at the end of their shift, they load sand spreaders and are ready to respond in case of a sand buildup,” Timothy said. Moreno, head of the Fort Worth Department of Transportation and Public Works. “We hope we don’t have to use them, but we’re prepared in case we do.”

If the winter storm escalates into a bigger event, Fort Worth will call everyone back.

“This will be a hands-on event, ready to use all of our resources and work around the clock until the event is over,” Moreno said.

While the City of Dallas does not pretreat roads and bridges, Public Works (PBW) and the Dallas Water Utility Stormwater Service (DWU) will use trucks to monitor roads and bridges and fill them with sand if necessary.

• A total of 40 grinders (PBW/DWU) will be available for this event.
• Trucks will focus on bridges, viaducts, slopes and intersections of major highways.
• The City will respond to DART bus routes and other areas important to public safety such as hospitals and fire stations.
• The city uses a mixture of 93% sand and 7% salt, and high-performance granular de-icer in the Central Business District (CBD).

The TEXpress Lanes system, which covers more than 100 miles of TEXpress lanes on eight North Texas roads, has activated its “Winter Maintenance Program” and “will continually monitor corridors for changing conditions.”