Crews working 24/7 to pretreat roads around AT&T Stadium ahead of Sunday's playoff game
NORTH TEXAS - With the winter weather and big events happening this weekend, it's all hands on deck across Dallas-Fort Worth to get the roads treated.
For the City of Arlington, it's a race against the clock to treat roads and bridges around AT&T Stadium ahead of Sunday's big playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers.
"Today here at AT&T Way and Cowboys Way; we treated the bridge deck with a salt brine mixture," says Shea Sumner, the Field Operations Manager for the City of Arlington's Public Works Department. He tells CBS News Texas, their main focus is to get the brine, a solution mixed of salt and water, on the roads and bridges around the stadium.
"Preparation is key, because if we do get precipitation and some snowfall and it collects on the bridge, it will turn to snow and ice to a sludge, which is easier for us to plow off the bridges to keep us safe," Sumner explains.
For TxDOT, pre-treatment started days ago, with crews working 12-hour shifts. The Fort Worth district wrapped up Friday afternoon and deployed 150 crews and had 200 trucks on standby. In Dallas, pre-treatments will be complete by Saturday afternoon on major roads, with 500 crews deployed, and 10 trucks on standby. Dallas' district alone has 500,000 gallons of brine ready to go.
"Of course, were continuing to monitor the forecast and talk to our crews that are out on the road and all throughout the day," says Tila Grant with TxDOT Dallas. She says crews feel prepared. "We feel like we have the staff ready to go and we have all the tools you need, so we feel totally confident going into the weekend."
Arlington crews say they will have crews and salt on standby Sunday night, and hope for not only a Cowboys victor, but a safe experience for fans.
"That's the biggest thing -- is being prepared -- making sure all of our equipment is up and running. We will have the trucks already out to wait for the snow to begin," Sumner adds.