LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Anytime there's snow on the ground and temperatures below 30 degrees that becomes a public safety concern for road crews in Arkansas.
That's why several plans and treatments are put in place beforehand to keep everyone safe.
"For this specific event, we spent all last week getting ready. Making sure we've got all our material that would be salt, sand, snow chains, plow blades, just everything it takes to keep the roads open," said Lee Church, Public Works Operation Coordinator.
Their main goal is to keep the main roads clear.
"There are nine routes throughout the city and if you can see the different colors, those are the different routes. Each of the drivers has a special snow route book that's been prepared they're updated every year," Church explained.
Their primary areas of focus will allow an easier path for first responders to travel on in case of an emergency.
"They've got to get to places and then they got to fight those secondary roads to get to the incident. We want to keep roads open to hospitals, important places, police stations, and fire stations. So roads like Chenal Parkway, and University," Church said.
According to Dave Parker the Public Information Officer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, they have treated the roads all week. Now it's just a matter of working around the clock and waiting to see how the weather plays out.
"We've got crews that came in 6 am to 6 pm and are just waiting for something to stick to the road. We'll plow it off, and then we'll reapply first with the salt brine again," he explained.
Crews will focus on all the interstates and work their way around to areas that need to be treated.
"We'll actually start plowing and taking care of it. Then we'll come back through and where we've cleared you know the snow off then we'll reapply some salt brine until that temperature gets down to low. Then we'll add the beet juice the super brine as we call it," Parker said.