Winter Crews Take To Tulsa Streets For The First Time This Season

For the first time this season, the City of Tulsa put its winter weather fleet to work, monitoring roadways as rain and snow fell to the ground.

Monday night, things looked pretty decent on most Tulsa streets as crews worked up until 8:00 p.m.

City utility crews got to work early Monday morning and worked till about 8:00 p.m. to make sure Tulsa streets were as good as they could be.

12/28/2015 Related Story: Anticipating Freezing Temperatures, City Crews Prepared To Treat Roads

Tulsa Street Maintenance Manager Tim McCorkell said the road conditions kept certain trucks busier than others.

"We had a lot of sleet and slush build up for a while. We probably plowed more than we put down salt because all the rain and running water would just wash the salt away," he said.

So, to clear things before the temperatures dropped too much, they leaned on evening traffic a bit; and crews did as much as possible while the rain held off.

"This evening it’s going to be more of the temperatures dropping, and the roadway was moist so there are going to be slick spots. We will go ahead and address with salt now since it’s not raining," McCorkell said.

The city has 64 salt trucks and more than 46 plows for clearing; they also have 10,000 tons of salt ready to go.

The city asks drivers to give the trucks the space they need to work.

"They need to understand they are emergency vehicles and they should not be passing them. Stay back 150 to 200 feet, just like any other emergency vehicle," McCorkell said.

The city said it plans to pick things back up bright and early Tuesday morning at 4 a.m., treating the roads to make sure they're in the best conditions possible for the commute to work.