Jan 23
NW Ohio receives largest snowfall of the winter season, so far, on Sunday
Road crews were out in full force Saturday night into early Sunday morning.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Sunday, Northwest Ohio received the largest snowfall of the winter season so far, which meant ODOT crews hitting area highways early to ensure a safe commute for drivers.
I spoke with Matt Bruning of ODOT, who explains that pre-treating isn’t to prevent snow from accumulating on the road, rather to make it easier for crews to clear the roads after a heavy snowfall.
“Pre-treating kind of helps us get a layer of salt down ahead of the storm hitting. And that just helps our crews be able to push it off a little easier, once we’re out rolling and snow is coming down,” said ODOT Press Secretary Matt Bruning.
To be clear, ODOT only maintains highways, except for the turnpike. Residential roads and major streets are covered by municipalities, like the city of Toledo or village of Ottawa Hills, for example.
While driving around the Glass City, as is the case with most major snow events, side streets were more treacherous than the main roads, which are heavily traveled.
Bruning says that with thousands of plows spread out across the state, safety is the number one priority, which is why drivers need to give crews room to work.
“We’ve already had 16 of our snow plows struck this winter. And so, that just underscores why it’s so important to do what we just talked about, by giving those crews that extra room,” he said.
He says that so far, ODOT has used less salt now than at this same point last year.
“We’re still below where we were at this time last year. We were a lot busier in the last winter but, you know, we’ve still got a lot of winter ahead of us. And so, certainly, I would expect that we may make up for that,” Bruning added.
If you have to head to work or school on Monday, be sure to check OHGO.com before you go, for a live look at the road conditions. And of course, drive cautiously.
