Winter weather brings icy road conditions, freezing temperatures to OKC

The City of Oklahoma City said on Wednesday that it has been preparing the roads since Tuesday evening and will continue to do so throughout the early morning hours on Thursday. 

Officials said they have been training for weather events like this since October. 

“We’ve used about 500 tons of salt so far in this event,” said Chris Daniels, OKC Public Works Streets Superintendent. 

500 tons is a typical amount, although the city said it expects to use another 200 tons of salt before the end of the day Wednesday. 

“This morning, it looked like the south side was hit a little harder than the north side, so we actually had to adjust our plan and use our plows to get some of that off the roadways on the emergency snow and ice routes, and then we were able to go back to our original salting methods,” Daniels explained. 

The crews work in 12-hour shifts with 75 employees out on the streets at a time, the city told News 9. 

“And they keep at it until the snow and ice routes are safe,” Daniels added. 

On Wednesday, street crews covered 1500 miles of roadway with plows, salt and a saltwater-beet juice pretreatment. 

“Our crews have been doing a good job. They’ve been aided because the actual surface temperatures of the road have been above freezing, so that’s helped to dry it out,” Daniels noted. 

However, the city said it is most concerned about the roads refreezing overnight. 

“I was looking at the accident tracker and it looks like people have been doing a fantastic job of staying safe. Allow yourself extra time; more distance between you and the vehicle in front of you – and slow down a bit,” Daniels suggested.