Overnight snow on the valley floor had drivers waking up to icy and slick commutes.Â
We spoke with a commuter about how the roads were early in the morning,Â
"Driving conditions were pretty wicked. It was a lot of slow drivers, some going above the speed limit and brakes weren't catching on time, so it was a lot of near misses potentially, yeah so It wasn't ideal to go driving especially that early.", Edwin Alvadara.Â
With the snow and ice on the roads, the Nevada Department of Transportation informed us, they have teams working with weather forecasters to prepare for increasing road safety.Â
NDOT has multiple teams salting, sanding, and brining state roads, highways and interstates 12 hours ahead of the storm.Â
As for city surface level streets, maintenance teams have increased equipment to improve efficiency, we asked them which roads they prioritize.Â
"Emergency routes and hospitals, police stations, fire stations. Those are our priority ones. And then those arterials. And then you have collaterals which are the are the bigger streets from neighborhoods that feed into those. Those are priority twos most routes. And then we have the priority threes which are neighborhoods.", Tim Hendricks, City of Reno Maintenance and Operations Manager, Streets Division.Â
City of Sparks team members also touched on what they are doing...
"We have 11, full sized cloud trucks for the roads. And we have six areas that we that we plow in. And then we will start with our main arteries like Sparks Boulevard.", Casey Bond, Assistance Public Works Manager.Â
Both teams encourage safe driving in the wintry conditions. Slowing down, increasing following distance, and clearing all snow off of your vehicle.Â
