Delaware road crews tackle heavy snow

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Ali Reid reported live from Wilmington, Delaware, as snow fell on Feb. 11, speaking with DELDOT to learn how they're keeping the state's roads clear.

Transcript

00:00And for Allie Reed, live in Wilmington, Delaware, the flakes are flying there, Allie.

00:04You know, this has been a pretty rapid start there after a lackluster afternoon for our

00:09friends in the small wonder of Delaware.

00:13Jeff, you make a great point, right?

00:17Just a few hours ago, it was silent.

00:20You would walk around a grocery store.

00:22No one was picking up the extra bread, the milk, none of that.

00:26And then all of a sudden, it just started to really come down here in Wilmington, Delaware.

00:31Beautiful Wilmington, Delaware at that, by the way.

00:33The skyline directly behind me here, and it's that picturesque type of snow.

00:38There is no doubt about it.

00:39But we were talking about that disruptiveness, the potential ice, the snow through the evening

00:44hours into the early hours tomorrow morning.

00:47That could potentially become a problem.

00:49I-95, by the way, just a hop, skip it away from where we are right now.

00:53But I'd like to bring in CR.

00:55How are you?

00:56Look at that smiling face.

00:58You must be doing well.

00:59Are you doing good?

01:00Oh, we're doing great.

01:01Ready for the latest round of winter weather.

01:02Oh, I love that.

01:03By the way, this is nothing that you aren't used to.

01:05Eight years, you've been with DelDOT.

01:07That's a long time.

01:08You guys have done this once or twice before.

01:10Absolutely.

01:11And it's been a very active weather pattern here in Delaware over the past month with

01:16several storms.

01:18So we've had our fair share of snow, and we're ready for the next one.

01:22Now what's really interesting that we're talking about Delaware as a whole today, right?

01:25We know the more you go south, the more snow you're seeing right now.

01:29And that's exactly what you guys are picking up on.

01:31It started really late this afternoon where we had the first real heavy band of snow come

01:36through.

01:37We've seen areas such as Laurel and even into the central part of Sussex County with three

01:42inches of snow already.

01:44So as the temperatures continue to fall, we do expect to see those accumulations amount

01:48continue to climb.

01:49Now what's interesting about Delaware and DelDOT in particular that I just found out

01:53a few hours ago myself, or not even a few hours ago, a few minutes ago, let's mention

01:58that.

01:59You had said to me DelDOT covers 90% of the roads in the state.

02:03That's a large percentage.

02:05So you guys are tackling a lot right now, major roadways, all the way to those side

02:09streets too.

02:10Yeah, absolutely.

02:11And that's one of the things that makes us unique from other state DOTs around the country

02:15is that we're largely the only snow removal operation outside of our municipality.

02:20So we've got about 13,000 lane miles that we're responsible for clearing in any storm

02:25event.

02:26So our plow operators are going to be working long hours over the next 24 hours to really

02:32clean up the remnants of this storm.

02:33Now before we talk overnight, this morning it was a lot of brining, salting, and that

02:38started you said yesterday?

02:39Correct.

02:40So again, getting out ahead of the storm, putting on that liquid brine solution to pre-treat

02:44the roadways.

02:45It really buys us extra time when the snow begins to fall and really prevents that initial

02:50freeze up from occurring.

02:51So we get out, we put that brine solution down, and it really helps make a difference

02:55and prevent that ice pack from building up.

02:57Okay.

02:58And then finally, let's talk about tonight.

02:59We know the snow's not stopping anytime soon, 2, 3, 4 o'clock in the morning, potentially

03:03in that time frame.

03:05That's a lot of hours ahead of us.

03:07Yeah, we've still got the worst of the storm ahead of us.

03:09So we're going to be working through the overnight hours.

03:12Obviously anyone that's going to be out on the roads, please slow down, give yourself

03:16plenty of extra time to get to where you're going.

03:18And obviously just be mindful of any potential delays for school and work in the morning.

03:22You make a good point.

03:23And let's wrap with that.

03:24We know school could potentially happen tomorrow.

03:27People might be going out on the roadsways tomorrow morning.

03:29If you can avoid it, let the workers like DelDOT do their job early in the morning to

03:35make it as safe as possible for those that are going to be getting out on those roadways.

03:39Guys, we're going to continue to follow this over the next couple of hours.

03:42Certainly the snow still coming down here, Jeff, in Wilmington, Delaware.

03:46All right.

03:47Thanks for your support there, Allie.

03:48Now I have a new way to impress my friends.

03:50What state maintains 90% of its roads as the DOT?

03:54That's impressive.

03:55It's a random fact, but it's a good one there and it's surprising.

03:58All right, Allie Reed.

03:59Fun fact.

04:00There is fun fact.

04:01We love fun facts.

04:02Well, Delaware is it.

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