Ohio Department of Transportation crews prepare roads for winter weather

TOLEDO, Ohio — Winter is here. And with it comes gray skies, cold temperatures and the potential for dangerous road conditions.

That’s where the Ohio Department of Transportation comes in.

“Slick road conditions, that’s the biggest thing,” said ODOT Transportation Manager Brian Drewes. 

Winter weather like snow and rain can quickly create conditions that pose a threat to drivers, which ODOT prepares for like clockwork every year, Drewes said.

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“The crews come in, we get all of our trucks checked over before every storm. Make sure the fluids are topped off, all of the lights are working, all that kind of stuff,” he said.

The preparations to keep the roads safe begin inside, according to Joshua Doughty, an ODOT highway technician.

“It’s just sitting down and looking at the weather forecast in a very detailed way and seeing what’s going to be coming in, when it’s going to be coming in, and then we’ll basically be making a plan of action from there,” he said.

Rain, sleet or snow, the plans are fluid.

“If it looks like we are going to get just snow coming in and the temperature’s just right, we’ll go out and we’ll pretreat all of our roadways so we’ve got that little bit of extra window for when it does initially start rolling in,” Doughty said.

Thirteen ODOT crews work 12-hour rotating shifts in Lucas County to stay ahead of the weather.

“That way we’ve got some kind of treatment on the road so that the snow and ice doesn’t start to adhere to the road right away while we’re actually making our rounds,” Doughty said.

When the storm stops, Doughty says crews have about two hours to get the roads back to normal.

“We’ll continue that rhythm until the event is over with and all our roads are clean, clear and back up to traveling speeds,” he said.