TxDOT crews ready to treat North Texas roads for wintry weather

TxDOT is keeping a very close eye on the roads as we prepare for the expected winter precipitation overnight.

All week, crews have been treating the roads, trying to make them as safe as possible for drivers.

They said, as the winter weather arrives, they are ready to get out and treat any problem areas.

"We’re full-time RVers and we had a spot that we were staying in until the end of the month and then heading back to Arizona in February," Doug Poag said.

Then the cold set in and Poag changed his mind.  

"[Sunday] morning, I woke up, my water lines were frozen, even though I wrapped everything. My water pump inside froze up, so basically, we’re out of water. I said that’s it, let’s pack up and leave early to head back to Arizona," he said. 

The deep freeze is expected to last a few days impacting North Texas.  

"I know we have a lot of swing in our temperatures, so it’s been very unpredictable and radical," Poag said. 

Marcus Pugh is heading home to Oklahoma City, where there’s snow on the ground.  

"It was 60 when we got here. The temperature started to plummet when we left and we had snow flurries," she said. 

TxDOT employees with the Fort Worth and Dallas districts are working 12-hour shifts until the area is back above freezing.

Over the last few days, crews in the Dallas district used 300,000 gallons of brine to treat the major highways and roads.  

"We want people to understand the brine is going to help, but it’s going to eliminate the freezing precipitation and people need to drive to the conditions out there and drive like there is ice on the road," said Tony Hartzel, with TxDOT.

TxDOT is now in "watch and wait mode," and ready to change equipment to put down salt and sand.  

"There are going to be crews out there in the overnight hours when the wind chills are below 0, checking those roads, putting down brine," Hartzel said. "Depending on what precipitation falls, it could be sand or some chat or small rocks, which help give some traction or some regular salt on the roads as well."  

Another concern is things refreezing overnight.  

"Monday night could be a challenging time, depending on what we get. Always assume there’s going to be some precipitation out there on the roadways until we get above freezing," Hartzel said.  

Hartzel reminds drivers to stay 200 feet behind their crews.

And of course, as we hear all the time during these weather events, if you don’t have to go out, stay at home.

"The main message is if you don’t have to get out, don’t. Let us treat the roads and get everything passable, and we’ll be looking forward to getting back to normal early next week," Hartzel added.