After spending the first part of the day clearing away the snow, Connecticut residents geared up for more winter weather, Saturday. The next storm promises to pack a punch.
“It’s about time we got a big one. I love the snow,” Jose Cuviz of Meriden said.
Marie Massicott disagreed.
“I’m not really happy about it,” she said. “And then, tomorrow’s coming. It’s just gonna be one thing after another.”
“I’m just ready for it. Ready for everything. Everything that comes,” Angel Izquierdo of Waterbury said.
So is the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The DOT is planning to have all 634 of its plow trucks, plus 200 private contractors, on standby for Sunday’s storm, but won’t see crews on the roads until the snow starts.
“What we have working in our favor is the fact that we were out plowing this morning and putting salt down. That residue is still going to be there for tomorrow,” Nursick said.
Nursick said depending on the amount of traffic, that salt residue, which looks like white lines on the pavement, can last a full week. Before a big storm, the state usually pre-treats 300 of its 11,000 miles of state roads.
“We hit the trouble spots, bridge surfaces, hills, valleys, troublesome ramps and troublesome sections of state routes,” Nursick said.
Nursick said that amounts to one percent of the state’s roadways. He added that the salt that was put on the roads for Saturday morning’s storm amounts to a state-wide pre-treatment.
While pre-treating won’t be necessary before Sunday night’s storm, Nursick said the fact that it’s supposed to last into Monday morning could be problematic.
“Based on what I’m seeing right now, it’s going to have an impact on the morning commute first and foremost folks would need to take that into consideration,” he said. “A driver that is not in a rush is a much safer driver when it comes to slippery conditions.”
