BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Many morning drivers were a little caught off guard by the snowfall and slick road conditions early on Tuesday, but Ohio Department of Transportation crews were ready to hit the road in the morning.
Tuesday morning's rough commute should let every driver in northwest Ohio know that it is time to be ready for winter weather over the next few months.
Highway Technicians at ODOT garages across the region have been busy for weeks getting their dump trucks converted into full-time plows.
"A lot of hard work and effort has gone into these because, in the summertime, they're just regular dump trucks," said highway technician Jordan Cook. "So, in the wintertime, we have to put all of the plows on, the wings on, slide all of the inserts into them and get them all ready for winter."
ODOT says while white-out conditions are problematic, the snowfall would not have been an issue if it fell before the heaviest morning commute. But the increased traffic combined with cold road temperatures creates slick conditions.
"The asphalt and concrete were cold, so it was blowing across until traffic started to pack it down into the roadways," said ODOT District 2 transportation administrator Ed Boyle. "And that's when things started to get slick and when traffic slowed down."
Tuesday, of all days, was actually the scheduled dry run inspection for the ODOT Bowling Green garage.
That inspection was canceled, but because it was set for Tuesday, all of the plows were fully ready to hit the road when the drivers were called upon.
"Once we saw those snow squalls coming in, we just put everybody in trucks instead of finishing polishing them and sent them out on the road," Boyle said.
Once the sun was out in the midday, the drivers spent the rest of their shift cleaning up their plows.
But moving forward through winter, ODOT would like area drivers to be ready to leave plenty of room between their vehicles and the plows during the next winter weather event.
"There's a lot of times that semis and cars don't slow down even though the conditions do get worse," Cook said. "That's the thing that we need to stress to people is to slow down and give us room and don't crowd us when we're out there."
Boyle gave further advice to drivers.
"When you come into snow squalls or these white-out conditions, please make sure you have your headlights on," he said. "Sometimes automatic headlights don't turn on. And please drive for the road conditions. You can't be driving the speed limit when you come into whiteout conditions, and that's where we get to a lot of issues."