Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Says Freezing Temperatures Taking Toll On Equipment

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority said crews have been working 12-hour shifts since last Tuesday to try to keep roads clear. The cold weather is really taking a toll on their equipment.

OTA crews have been working really hard to keep the roadways plowed along the turnpike, but they say people are driving way too fast on the roadway.

They said three snow plows have been hit just in the past 24 hours alone. Thankfully no one has been injured, but they say it’s really putting their crews at risk.

The cold temperatures are creating a different atmosphere than what they normally work with during a normal Oklahoma winter. They say thick wet snow is easy to get off the roadways, but this light snow is just blowing everywhere and even creating snow drifts on the concrete barriers in the middle of the turnpike. 

“We have 650 lane miles that we are trying to take care of as well and plus, in this Oklahoma weather with the wind blowing, it really creates a lot of snow drifts on our barrier walls that we have on our turnpikes, so when that snow builds up like that it’s tougher to clear,” said OTA Communications Director, Jack Damrill.

They said they’ve also had some of their equipment go down because of the cold weather, but they said their biggest problem is that people are being too impatient.

“They’re trying to go around the right side of our snow plows, they’re trying to go around the left side,” said Damrill. “We even have highway patrol following our snow plows and personnel following them with red and blue lights and people are ignoring those trying to go around and that’s what happens we have people get hit.”

They say their plows are going in tandem meaning it may be a line of two or three plows at a time only going 35 miles an hour, but it’s something that needs to be done often because the snow is so light and is blowing back on the roadways.

Right now they aren’t using salt on the roadways because it’s too cold and the salt won’t work. They said they might use it later in the week if we get above freezing.

They said if you do get into a non-injury accident, try to move off the highway as best as possible.

“If you can, take it completely off the turnpike because you may not get it the whole way off the road because you can’t see the shoulder right now,” said Damrill. “You don’t know where it starts or where it ends, so if you can drive it off the turnpike and go to a gas station and call and try to get the accident worked that way.”

You can call *55 If you need assistance or 911 if you get stuck in the roadway.