Dallas weather: TxDOT crews treating for icy spots ahead of Tuesday drive

TxDOT crews focus on icy patches for Tuesday drive

TxDOT is on the lookout for black ice that might trip up drivers on Tuesday. With many heading back to work after a three-day weekend more drivers are expected to be on the roads than during Monday's snow.

TxDOT in Dallas says it dropped second and third layers of brine earlier Monday, but on Monday night it does not see the need to continue brining full roads, just specific spots of ice and precipitation.

Road conditions in North Texas, for the most part, are alright on Monday evening.

"No one's on this road, man," laughed driver Anthony Bush.

Still, the only reason Bush is out-and-about is to drop off his daughter who is catching a shuttle back to college in San Marcos.

While roads are mostly okay, they are not perfect.

There are some snowy and icy shoulders, especially on bridges and overpasses.

"It has been fine most of the day, but we're not getting above freezing, and it's only going to get colder today," said Tila Grant, spokesperson for TxDOT. "The potential for black ice is there and you know the hard thing with black ice is you don't see it.

TxDOT says it'll continue to have crews working 12-hour shifts, 24 hours a day until the arctic blast is gone. The focus now is specific areas where there are signs of black ice.

"They're kind of clearing that out so that we won't see much of it melting onto the roads later on this evening and having to deal with some of that potential black ice kind of situation," said Grant.

Monday morning, conditions were worse.

In Grapevine alone there 10 weather-related accidents, including three separate accidents involving 10 vehicles, on the State Highway 121/114 flyover. A Grapevine fire engine assisting with wrecks was involved in one of the crashes.

There were no life-threatening injuries, but the highway was shut down for three hours as TxDOT crews treated the bridge for ice.

Also on Monday, in Bedford, FOX 4 spoke with a driver who was involved in a multi-vehicle crash on State Highway 121.

"As a pack of us were coming around, there were already cars weaving and spinning out, and everybody started hitting their brakes, which really wasn't a good thing," said one driver named Steve.

The section between Murphy Drive and Harwood Road was shut down, but there were no major injuries, according to police.

It's clear most people are taking precaution and staying off roads, even though they are drivable.

For perspective, one of the most popular gas stations in Dallas was mostly empty at 6 p.m.

"We just came to go into the store and come back out," said Ralencia Pickens. "I think people are at home getting warm."

TxDOT says it'll likely be working non-stop through Wednesday when temperatures rise above freezing.