DALLAS — From the roads to the skies, crews are preparing for this week’s weather event.
NORTH TEXAS TOLLWAY AUTHORITY
Crews will begin round-the-clock shifts starting at midnight Wednesday, and that’s when they’ll start treating the roads with a heavy, granular salt.
“When it goes down, it not only brings the freezing temperature down, it also kind of acts as a traction device,” spokesperson Michael Rey said. “We can use sand and salt as well as needed. We’ll see how it develops.”
TxDOT
Crews began treating roads with brine Tuesday in the Dallas District, which includes Dallas, Denton, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, and Navarro counties.
Some 453 crew members will be working on a 24/7 schedule to treat highways, bridges and overpasses in 12-hour shifts.
“Everybody thinks bridges and overpasses: They think the High Five or the Mix Master or all the major elevated structures,” Texas Department of Transportation spokesperson Tony Hartzel said.
"You drive down any interstate or major U.S. highway, for example, and every cross street that you hit where you would exit for, there's a bridge there," Hartzel explained. "It seems like it's not a bridge because you're just driving on a flat roadway, but there is a bridge above you or below you, and so every time you're hitting those cross streets, you're getting on a bridge.”
TxDOT said Dallas County has roughly 3,000 bridges. The entire Dallas District, which is made up of seven counties, has about 6,000 bridges.
“We have our work cut out for us, but we're ready for the challenge to get all those treated,” Hartzel added.
AIRPORTS
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, FlightAware shows American Airlines has canceled 234 flights and Southwest has canceled 76 flights for Wednesday.
Also according to FlightAware, over 600 flights in and out of DFW Airport are canceled Wednesday.
A DFW Airport spokesperson issued the following statement Tuesday evening:
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is monitoring the potential winter weather event with the National Weather Service (NWS). Airport operations are prepared to begin treatment of runways and taxiways on the airfield, and bridges, overpasses and roadways on the landside of the Airport ensuring the safety of customers and employees.