City crewscontinue salting bridges and debris removal; Dec. 15 at 9 a.m.

   

New Information

• 10 salt spreaders (9with snowplows)aresalting bridges and overpasses while 5 crews removetreedebris from the roadway. Crews moved from clearing arterial streets to residential streetsearly Friday.
• If weather and roadway conditions deteriorate through the morning, crews on the noon shift will move into full salt spreading operations (28 trucks)
• Crews have used 2,560 tons of rock salt since the ice storm began.  Our last shipment came on Wednesday.  We haveapproximately5,000 tonsleft in stock.
• 36 traffic signals citywide are still out due to loss of power.
• Crews have worked 11full shifts(12-hours) since the storm began.
• Contractors could begin residential ice storm debris pickup as early as Dec 19.  City residents need to have their debris stacked within 10 feet from their curb. Thepickupservice is free.  Crews will make at least two sweepsin each neighborhood.

Ice Removal Facts

Oklahoma City’semergencysnow routes cover more than 1000 lane miles*.  (There are more than 14,000 total lane miles* in Oklahoma City.)      

• Regionalsnow routes can be viewed on-line at www.okc.gov.Citizens can have a map mailed to them by calling the City's Action Center at 297-2535.
• Priority is given to City bridges and overpassesand theemergency snow routes comenext.
• Three monitoring stations(located in NW, NE andDowntown OKC)measure the surface temperature on bridges.  Informationgathered from the stations help crews plan their de-icing tactics.

Our crews

• The City’s Streets Department has 75-100 people dedicated to working each 12-hour shift, 24-hours per day until conditions improve.  Shifts change a noon and midnight.

About the salt

• Crewscan spread about 1,500 tons of salt per day.
• Magnesium Chloride, which is a de-icing agent, is added to the salt when the temperature dips into the teens.  Crews have not used the chemical during this ice storm.

How to stay safe

• Be aware of downed power lines.
• Proceed cautiously through intersections without working signals.
• Keep 100 feet between your car and the salt truck.
• Be patient.  Crews are working hard.

*Engineers often measure pavement by lane miles.  A two-lane street that is one mile long has two lane miles, and a four-lane street that is one mile long has four lane miles.