LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — Any Michigan driver knows it doesn't take much snow to cause issues on the roads and as our communities brace for snowfall overnight, road commission teams across Southeast Michigan are preparing.
In Wayne County they built a new salt dome.
"This is our Park View salt dome located here in Plymouth Township," said Scott Cabauatan, deputy director of the Department of Public Services for Wayne County.
Cabauatan said the new dome was created to help their road teams be more efficient, driving less to fill up on salt.
This winter weather event will be their first time implementing the dome.
"We also have spotters out on the road, some of our supervisors are out on the road, checking our road conditions," Cabauatan said. "And we’re looking at conditions on the western side of the state where the weather pattern is coming in from."
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Craig Bryson, senior communications manager of the Road Commission for Oakland, County, told 7 News that in their area, "We’re actually pre-treating in some places where we’re going out and spraying liquid brine on some of the roads, particularly the ramps and overpasses on the freeways, and that delays the formation of ice."
Bryson said areas of I-696 were a disaster during last Friday's snowfall because the weather event was categorized as a "squall," which is a sudden, violent storm.
Watch our coverage as winter weather hit metro Detroit late last week in the video player below:
He said their teams are worried about seeing that again Wednesday night.
"So there is forecasted to be squalls coming through and the squalls are really a problem because they can come out of nowhere and it can be instantly white-out conditions," Bryson said.
The type of snowfall we may receive is on the minds of the Macomb County Department of Roads as well.
Their team sent us this overview of how they are preparing:
Prior to and during winter weather events, the Macomb County Department of Roads keeps a close eye on the forecast and has drivers on the roads to monitor conditions. Depending on conditions, we start with main trunk lines and primary road routes, and then work our way through local and residential roads. For the safety of the motoring public, all state and county primary roads must be cleared before the Department of Roads can begin snow removal on local roads.
When winter weather hits, Macomb County crews patrol the roads and monitor conditions, clearing snow and treating icy conditions as needed to keep the roads as safe as possible. Depending on the severity and duration of a winter storm, the Department of Roads will stagger and dispatch drivers appropriately to ensure the roadways are treated throughout the duration of a storm so we can have trucks on the road as long as needed. Our crews and equipment are ready 24/7 to ensure we maintain a safe and drivable road system for all Macomb County motorists and visitors.
All three departments expressed their desire for drivers to simply drive slow.
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"Slow down. The biggest thing that our drivers constantly see is drivers driving too fast for the conditions and those are the people they see spinning out, running off the road and unfortunately sometimes, running into the back of our trucks," Bryson said.
