Ohio Department of Transportation Prepares for Upcoming Winter Ice Storm

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The whole state of Ohio is expecting a major winter storm that will start later tonight up until Friday.

According to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) their weather partners are warning residents of a winter storm that will consist of a bunch of mixed precip and predicting heavy snow, and ice.

ODOT is preparing to have about 42 drivers out to cover the 700 lane miles of State and Federal routes in Muskingum County. 

“So as far as us getting prepared, it’s kind of multiple fronts. We still got some ditches that’s still loaded with snow from previous events so the front end of the rain we’re worried about some ponding on the side of the road and places we’re going to be watching out for, but as we get into early Thursday morning hours when it starts converting over,” Phil Valentine, Muskingum County Manager at ODOT stated. “We’re preparing our chainsaws. That kind of brush cutting equipment, but most importantly preparing our snow and ice equipment.”

With an icy winter storm like this, ODOT’s routes may take a little longer for this winter storm due to not being able to pre-treat roads ahead of time because of the ice, however, Valentine said that they are prepared with the appropriate equipment.

There is a risk of the ice hitting trees, pulling down branches and power lines that can also reduce the cycle time on the roads for ODOT.

“We usually have about a 90 minute period cycle where they hit a roadway. That’s what we gun for. That’s what we shoot for,” Valentine said. “We GPS trucks and stuff trying to make sure that we hold to that, but when you have events like ice storms, our trucks have to move a lot slower. We want to keep them on all four wheels too so it can take us a lot longer to get across the road if it does get icy with hard packed ice.”

Valentine encourages Ohians to stay home and avoid taking unnecessary trips and to also thank the healthcare workers, first responders and those who have to go out, and endure the storm.