Columbia road crews prepare for winter weather

Columbia road crews have already started preparing the roads for the winter weather. Columbia Public Works will salt the roads as snow expected with this storm begins to fall.

Barry Dalton from Columbia Public Works said crews began salting bridges, intersections and other areas that are prone to becoming slick Friday morning.

He said laying salt on other areas during the rain can wash it away before it can actually help drivers.

“Rain can wash treatment materials like salt off the road and so you don’t want to put too much down because you don’t want to waste that resource and have it go into the environment,” Dalton said.

Streets marked will a red, white and blue sign signify areas where vehicles must be moved if there are two inches of snow. Dalton said vehicles that are not moved on these priority routs will either be towed or ticketed.

He said it is difficult to predict what the roads will look like this weekend because it depends on how much snow falls, but said the department will change its operations as needed.

“We work 24/7 in 12 hours shift, and will work until all the roads are passable by a front-wheel drive vehicle at slow speeds,” he said.