ARDOT officials warn of dangerous road conditions in parts of Central Arkansas
Though this winter weather isn’t expected to bring as much snow as Central Arkansas saw last month, experts warn that the road conditions could be just as dangerous.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Even though the winter weather coming to Central Arkansas this week isn’t expected to bring nearly as much snow as we saw in January, experts warn that the roads could be just as dangerous.
The main reason behind the dangerous road conditions is the below-freezing temperatures that are expected to last a couple of days— creating freezing rain and a layer of ice that’s likely to stick around.
“That [in January] was a snow situation with a lot of plowing,” Dave Parker with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) of January’s storm. “It was gone in a matter of a day or two because of the above-freezing temperatures and the sunshine. But we’re going to get really, really cold Wednesday and Thursday here, so nothing’s going to melt.”
That also tends to be the case even more so on back roads and side streets.
That territory belongs to Eric Petty who is the Public Works Manager for the City of Little Rock. Petty and his team handle many of the neighborhood roads, meanwhile, ARDOT takes care of the interstates and highways.
“We have a lot of really steep hills to go in and out of,” Petty described. “And a lot of these neighborhood roads are really narrow.”
Petty said his team started pouring sand for traction and salt for melting on Tuesday morning.
However, he agreed with Parker in saying that with temperatures expected to remain below freezing through at least Friday, the salting can only do so much.
“We are expecting to have a lot of trouble melting it and getting it off the streets,” Petty explained. “Especially in our hilly and shady areas, it’s going to be some real dangerous driving for a couple of days here.”
He also reiterated the fact that people should not underestimate these conditions, as one to two inches of ice is all it takes for a car to start sliding.
Parker also echoed that concern, and said that despite ARDOT doing everything they can to keep roads safe people should stay off the roads if possible.
“We’ll get out there and plow what we can. And we’re even going to resort to putting down sand, which is almost your last resort. Because when the temperature gets so low, none of our de-icing materials work. It gets too cold for that. So we’ll put sand down there. It doesn’t eat the ice away or melt anything, but it gives you more traction. So that’s what we’re facing,” he added.