Trucks were gearing up at the Omaha city maintenance lot for the possibility of snow on Friday.
“We try to go with the worst probably case and figure out what the timing is, when the operation starts, how many people we want running,” said street maintenance engineer Austin Rowser.
He said their crews have to be ready for anything, “we will have crews starting at a 24 hours at noon tomorrow.”
The city says the early rain Friday, and our previously high temperatures, will change the way they tackle the roads.
“We will not be pre-treating, and that is based on high pavement temperatures that are forecasted for the storm, coupled with chances of rain, because if we pre treat with salt and rains it washes off and it doesn't do any good,” said Rowser.
He said they will work as fast as possible to get the roads clear for Friday evening, “specially for the evening commute, that's a big thing, the timing of it will be such will be we will have to really hustle to get the PM commute done for Friday evening."
NDOR is gearing up too, they added two tow plows to their line this year and that will help clear roads faster.
“It’s basically a plow truck with a trailer that articulates out so we can plow two lanes at once,” said superintendent Jim Laughlin.
While the city and state prepare for the snow, resident are getting ready too.
“We sold some shovels, probably sold 5 or so snow blowers people have started to really get prepped for the winter,” said Assistant Manager Westlake Ace Hardware Sean Grant.
The store at 144th and center said when the first flakes fall they'll see a rush, “you start seeing people come in once you start seeing the snow falling.”
NDOR said they will have 50 trucks out working, and the city said they will have 100 workers out on the streets.
