TULSA, Okla. — Road crews are working around the clock during this bout of icy, snowy winter weather.
Overnight, crews are especially concerned with scraping, sanding or spraying brine on bridges, overpasses and on hills that can quickly turn treacherous when ice, slush or worse, black ice develops.
Black ice can develop quickly. It's when a road surface looks wet but is actually slick with ice. Drivers hitting it can lose traction and slide off the road or, more dangerously, into other vehicles.
We met Bailey Austin Bird stocking up on ice melt at a midtown hardware store. She's concerned her driveway will be slick when she tries to get out in the morning. She's also concerned about the condition of her neighborhood side streets.
"The neighborhood roads are still pretty wet and going to be slick," she said.
When the temperatures drop overnight wet surfaces can refreeze.
Tulsa's Street Maintenance Manager, Tim McCorkell, said, "We'll continue to address any slushy areas or refreezing, and hopefully, we can get it under control."
The city crew focuses on treating arterial roads first and wants drivers to slow down on all streets when we have the potential for icing.
ODOT's T.J. Gerlach said highways can have changing conditions in winter weather. "Our crews are out treating with a salt and sand mixture to give some traction as well as to keep ice from forming, but again, those bridges and overpasses, they freeze quicker than anything and so we want to make sure that people are paying attention and driving with caution."
If you start to slide on ice:
- take your foot off the accelerator
- avoid slamming on your brakes - that can cause you to skid and cause greater loss of control
- steer gently into the direction you want to go as you regain traction and control of your vehicle
If you do slide off an icy road:
- dial 911 for help
- stay in your vehicle if you can do so safely to keep warm until help arrives
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