Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) crews are preparing for what has the potential to be a significant, statewide weather event Thursday, January 9, into Friday, January 10.
Earlier this week, Arkansas saw its first bout of light winter weather for the year in northwest and north central parts of the state. A second, more significant winter weather event – in which the entire state could see anywhere from two to eight inches of snow – is expected to arrive Thursday.
“This storm isn’t predicted to be the largest one we’ve ever seen, but it’s the first of the year to really impact most of the state,” said Steve Frisbee, ARDOT’s Assistant Chief Engineer for Maintenance. “We are making sure all of our resources and equipment are ready to deploy as needed.”
ARDOT starts each year with a stockpile of 85,000 cubic yards of salt. This salt is distributed between 116 salt houses across the state. ARDOT has 31 tanker trailers used to pre-treat roads, and a fleet of more than 600 snowplows to clear roads.
ARDOT’s Strike Team is activated during winter weather events. They assist the District crews to facilitate the pre-treatment and clearing of our State’s Highways and Interstates in the event of snow and ice. The Strike Team is made up of employees from ARDOT’s statewide striping, sign, and milling crews.
“The Department is monitoring the weather, and we are as prepared as we can be,” said Rex Vines, ARDOT’s Chief Engineer for Operations. “We are pretreating roads and will actively pursue keeping our roads clear. Extreme caution is always recommended if any members of the public must be out on the roads during winter weather.”
ARDOT recommends the public stay home during inclement weather if possible. If travel is necessary, check IDriveArkansas.com for the latest road conditions. To activate the winter weather layer on the IDriveArkansas website or app, click the snowflake icon. If you are traveling during inclement weather, reduce speeds, stay alert, and keep necessities in your vehicle such as an ice scraper, phone charger, hat, gloves, etc.
Additional travel information can be found at IDriveArkansas.com or ARDOT.gov.