January 17, 2008

Wednesday's pretreatment work may be paying off Thursday. Twenty-four trucks pulled out of public works Wednesday with one thing in mind, preparing the roads for the first snow storm of the year.

At least 40 workers were out targeting icy areas, dumping a salt and sand mixture in hopes of making traveling much easier for drivers.

"Our goal is first of all to clear all the primary roads first. We want to make sure they're in good shape," said Judith Mueller, Public Works Director.

But it's not just primary roads that are a huge concern for Public Works; they are also worried about bridges, because they are the first roadways to freeze.

"We treat our bridges a little bit differently than we treat our roadways," said Mueller. "We do put down a non-corrosive material on the bridges first, even before the snow, ice or rain comes down, and that keeps our bridges slick free and certainly safe for drivers."

The city of Charlottesville is very prepared for the weather. They have several new technologies, like the new street monitoring system that allows them to monitor several roads at a time.

"That allows us to monitor the current road conditions, air temperature, the wind speed as well as whether the road is just wet or icy," said Charlottesville Spokesman Ric Barrick.

The new system is located in three intersections around the city.

The city is doing as much as it can to be prepared for any wintry weather situation. The workers at the city's traffic signal shop are busy getting ready as well.

"Our major concerns are traffic backup. If one section of road gets congested, then we can adjust timings at intersections to allow more green time or less depending up on the needs," said Lonnie Randall of the city traffic signal shop.