‘Ice and snow, take it slow’: ODOT readies for winter

By JUSTIN DENNIS

jdennis@vindy.com

CANFIELD

Last winter was one of the Ohio Department of Transportation’s “busiest,” with an average snowfall of 40 inches in Mahoning County, officials said. Now they’re gearing up for the 2018 season.

Maintenance workers at the department’s Canfield garage on Wednesday continued final, 150-point inspections on the 24 plow trucks housed there before they hit the roads.

“We want to make sure that when that snow flies, there’s no major issues with the trucks that we didn’t know about,” said Brent Kovacs, ODOT spokesman.

He said the department is also urging motorists to take more care when sharing the road with plow trucks, which will usually be driving below the posted speed limit. Ohio motorists struck 64 plow trucks last year, he said.

Kovacs said motorists should also do their own pre-winter inspections, topping off windshield wiper fluid, checking or replacing batteries, testing vehicle door windows and replacing dead bulbs.

“When that first snowstorm does hit, give yourself extra time. Remind yourself how to drive in the snow and ice,” he said. “‘Ice and snow, take it slow.’”

Last year, Mahoning County ODOT trucks used nearly 19,500 tons of road salt and 360,000 gallons of de-icing liquid to treat nearly 650 miles of roadway.

ODOT has procured about half of the 15,000 tons of salt to be stored at the Canfield garage this year, Kovacs said. He added the rising price of road salt – currently at $52.65 per ton in Mahoning County – won’t lead to any shortages.

Plow drivers spent more than 19,000 hours on Mahoning County roads and drove nearly 215,000 miles last year, according to a news release. ODOT aims to clear snow from primary routes within two hours of a storm’s end. Crews met that goal 97 percent of the time last year.

“When people think of ODOT, one of the first things they think of is our ability to clear snow and ice from the road,” ODOT Director Jerry Wray said in a release. “It’s a job we take very seriously because we know it is vital to making sure people and goods can safely reach their destination.”

ODOT’s recently revamped website, OHGO.com, reports real-time travel conditions through more than 600 traffic cameras, weather sensors and traffic alerts. The OHGO app is also available for the iPhone and Android devices.