Dallas weather: North Texas road crews prepare for possible icy conditions
An arctic blast is coming to North Texas this weekend, with the potential for a wintry mix on Sunday.
The Dallas Cowboys host a playoff game in Arlington on Sunday.
"Our public works department has crews on standby. So should the roads deteriorate, they’ll be able to respond and treat the roads," said Lt. Brian Garcia with the Arlington Police Department Traffic Division.
Lt. Garcia says officers will be ready to assist people traveling to the game.
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"They should expect delays coming to the game and then once they’re at the stadium, that they should expect delays walking into the stadium, and that they should dress warmly," he said.
Friday morning, Arlington Public Works crews will apply salt and brine to bridges in the Entertainment District near the stadium and dozens of city bridge crossings near interstates.
The responsibility to treat on interstates lies with TxDOT.
TxDOT crews in Tarrant County began pre-treating on Wednesday with a brine mixture.
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TxDOT’s Fort Worth district is already treating the highways and interstates in North Texas and expects to be finished by Thursday. The Dallas district says it plans to begin its preparations on Friday.
We wondered about it perhaps being too soon to put the mixture down, but TxDOT spokesman Val Lopez tells us it is effective up to a week in advance.
The brine acts as a type of anti-freeze.
Lopez says it is very cost-effective to begin early and if it happens to rain, they can reapply it.
"What we’re gonna do is everything in our power to make the roads safest possible. We also ask that motorists do their part as well," he said.
Lopez says the Tarrant County division of TxDOT has 200 vehicles and the available staff to operate them all.
They are looking at 12-hour shifts in the coming days just so they will have personnel on stand-by to handle whatever comes.
The Dallas County Division, including Collin, Denton, Ellis, Kaufman, Navarro and Rockwall counties will begin treating roads Friday.
TxDOT in Dallas believes the forecast does not call for earlier treatment.
"I mean, our crews have said that they will begin the process of spreading the brine on Friday and of course the sand on the roadways is what gives us the traction and so our crews will start in the right lane and they work their way in," said Alice Rios, TxDOT's Public Information Officer. "That’s something that not everybody realizes, but they start in those slower lanes and then work in because not all the lanes might be passable once we do or if we do get icy weather."
TxDOT's Dallas Division gave FOX 4 a look inside its Daltran Building where there are hundreds of camera monitored 24 hours a day.
TxDOT employees check for accidents, conditions and more.
The people working here are the eyes and ears for those who have to be on the roads.
"We have a lot of crew ready to roll. We have 500 employees who are ready to get out there and treat the roads, we have more than 100 trucks and pieces of equipment," said Rios.
No matter where you're at in North Texas, officials ask you to stay home if you can, but if you're heading to the game, or anywhere else, increase your following distance in your vehicle and decrease speed.
"It’s a scary feeling when you’re driving down the roadway and all of a sudden you lose control of your vehicle," said Lt. Garcia.