Tulsa Road Crews Work To Treat Roads Impacted By Winter Weather

Monday, city and state crews were out spreading salt and sand on the icy roads in Green Country.

Tulsa street crews worked around the clock to spread the mixture to nearly 1,700 miles of city streets around town. Truck drivers made several trips back and forth to the city's salt and sand yard to get a refill before heading back out again. 

Leon Kragel, Tulsa's street maintenance operations manager, said they'll have 62 trucks working throughout the evening, but said it will take them awhile to get all of the streets.

“It could take hours and shifts and we may have another shift actually come in later to continue this process. Every storm is different so the timing is never the same," said Kragel.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews were also out treating highways, overpasses, and bridges before people leave work and head home. ODOT said they began treating the highways yesterday before the storm hit and said they've got 50 trucks out treating the nearly 1100 miles of highways in Tulsa County.

Kenna Mitchell with ODOT said one of the problems their crews are running into is that as soon as trucks are able to treat an overpass, it immediately freezes again. 

“You know when you look out there it looks like it’s just a wet road, but it does have that thin layer of ice on that can be very, very dangerous. So if people can stay home today, that certainly helps us get the roads clear faster. But if they do have to travel they have to be very careful out there because with those bridges and overpasses you’re going to likely encounter some ice out there," said Mitchell.

Mitchell said they'll have crews working throughout the evening treating highways.