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SALT LAKE CITY — Snow removal teams prepared all day for the winter storm working its way across the Wasatch Front. Now that the snow's started to fly, both the Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Highway Patrol are hoping their prep work will pay off.
"We started last night (Tuesday) by pretreating the roads," said Jake Brown, a UDOT snowplow driver. "You'll see the white lines on the road, that's the brine solution that we put on the road. It'll prevent the ice from sticking on the roads."
As the storm moves in, Brown says the freeways will get the most attention from plows. Trucks will put down 250 pounds of salt per lane mile, with trucks carrying about 8 ½ yards of salt.
"They'll go around and put salt in the lanes, which lowers the freezing temperatures of the road, which makes it safe for traffic," Brown explained.
Monday's storm caught many drivers off guard. There were slide-offs and smash-ups across four counties, and that performance has UHP troopers on edge for Wednesday night's storm as well.
"We're always concerned when the storm (is) coming in and the onslaught, if you will, is about to hit us," said Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Lt. Mike Loveland.
Monday, troopers responded to nearly 300 crashes from Weber Country to Utah Country, with a majority in Salt Lake County.
"I can't tell you how many crashes I've responded to where people want to blame the snowy condition or the wet conditions," Loveland said.
He doesn't want a repeat of Monday's events, so he has additional troopers on standby Wednesday night just in case.
"We only have so much man power. There are a lot of cars out there. We want people to be safe. We don't want our guys to get hit," Loveland said. "We want everybody to get home tonight safe and sound."
Forecasters expect a series of storms through at least Tuesday. Wednesday night's storm will bring 3-5 feet of snow in the mountains. Here in the valley, they're expecting1-3 inches of snow, mixed with rain.
