Ahead of snow predictions on Sunday, officials with the City of Omaha provided an update on how personnel are gearing up to handle it.
To get ahead of things, the city’s public works department will begin pre-treating the roads with brine on Saturday for their first widespread accumulation of snow on Sunday.
City engineer Todd Pfizer of Omaha’s Public Work’s Department said, “We are going to go ahead and brine up or pre-treat. We’re going to start that operation around noon on Saturday.”
If you saw a lot construction crews out Friday, that’s because the city is trying to finish up projects before the snow hits or get the projects in a place where they can stay for the winter.
Public works will call in contractors to clear out neighborhoods if the snow accumulation reaches over two inches, but they’ll most likely be focusing on clearing the over 5,000 lane miles of major city roads.
“They have all the materials, hand sanitizers, spray, wipes,” says Pfizer. “We encourage them to wipe everything down at the beginning of a shift.”
Even though public works will work throughout the weekend to clear those roads, it’s important to take your own precautions like driving slower and more safely, shoveling sidewalks and putting down ice melt in areas that get slick.
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