Tulsa City Crews Prepare To Treat Roads Ahead Of Winter Weather

Tulsa Street Maintenance Manager Tim McCorkell told News On 6 he has not seen a forecast with this much snowfall expected in Tulsa since 2013. The City of Tulsa said it is responsible for treating the Gilcrease and Tisdale Expressways, as well as all main streets, while the remainder of Tulsa highways fall into the hands of ODOT.

City Crews are prepared to work non-stop to make sure streets are safe and passable. McCorkell told Channel 6 the plan is to plow major roadways before salting the streets but said they will not be clearing any secondary roads or neighborhood streets.

“We live in the middle of a neighborhood,” said Stephanie Johnson. "It's not like we can just pull out of the neighborhood and we're fine.”

Johnson is a new mom worried about her family’s safety. She said leaving her Tulsa home is a slippery slope but told us her husband does not have a choice and must commute to work.

"The roads are slick. We slid into a curb yesterday trying to get groceries,” said Johnson. “It's just chaotic and kind of nerve-racking."

The city has two salt brine mixing systems and four trucks for treating intersections with salt brine which is a solution that works until temperatures dip below about -6 degrees. McCorkell said they have 8,000 tons of salt, 62 truck-mounted salt spreaders, 48 truck-mounted snowplows, seven 4x4 pick-up trucks equipped with snowplows, and three motor graders for use as plows.

Only, he worries the wind could complicate things.

“You can go through a route and plow, and by the time you finish, and you come back it's drifted in again,” McCorkell said.

City crews said consistently cold temperatures make it difficult for the salt to activate. We are told sand is costly to clean, but they do have a heavy-duty sand-salt mixture for winding roads if the road conditions deteriorate. More than 200 city employees are working overtime to treat a 1,770-mile stretch.

"Everybody's kind of involved as a group effort to make this work, whether it's with employees or with equipment because it's all hands on deck,” McCorkell said.

McCorkell told News On 6 his crews are working around the clock ahead of the storm and ready to bear the brunt of it.

He said crews are assigned to 35 specific routes which are prioritized based on traffic counts.

McCorkell recommends you stay home if you can.

"I'm scared to drive because of the road conditions,” said Johnson. “I don't want anything like someone to slide into me. I trust myself as a driver, but I don't trust the roads."

To view a route map the city uses in its winter weather response, Click Here.

For a list of frequently asked questions, Click Here.