TXDot

[GulfCoastRaider]

I've lived up north where they use this type of equipment at least a third to half of the year and I assume a good portion of their budget goes to plows, sand trucks, etc. - makes sense. Anywhere south of Kansas/Oklahoma I can't see it making good fiscal sense to invest and maintain this type of equipment year 'round for 3-4 days of use per year.

That being said, we Texans suck at driving on wet roads, much leads icy/snowy roads and should just stay home for safety.

Oh, there were numerous wrecks in Corpus over the weekend and not a drop of ice, just the regular idiots out there!

[Death from Above]

If people would drive correctly it would help clear the ice off the road...

Just SLOW DOWN!

[texas bound]

If people would drive correctly it would help clear the ice off the road...

Just SLOW DOWN!

It is quite funny watching some people trying to drive. Just cause you have 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can do 80 on ice.

[gspbrad]

Mega fail. Too much technology, equipment and processes to manage this. Other areas of the country, this would be a non-event.

[Humper]

Let me ask you this...do you own a snow shovel, have salt ready to spread on your sidewalk and a snow blower in your garage?


You probably don't because this type of weather is very infrequent. Txdot does not have the funds to purchase and maintain equipment that they may use once every 2-3 years.

[Death from Above]

It is quite funny watching some people trying to drive. Just cause you have 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can do 80 on ice.

No doubt...when i was a teenager my grandfather would load us boys up and head to I20 and HWY 43 when weather was like this. We pulled alot of 4x4's out that thought they could drive 65 on that stuff.

Mad some good Christmas money at 20 bucks a tow.

[gspbrad]

Let me ask you this...do you own a snow shovel, have salt ready to spread on your sidewalk and a snow blower in your garage?

All but the snow blower. I grew up in IL and its just something you learn to prepare for - in advance. I bought 8 bags of salt last year at Target and Lowes. They sit in my garage until needed. I had plenty.

Plenty of revenue going in and through the state of Texas to invest and be better prepared. We're not NM from an economic point of view.

[Storm]

Let's see there were people driving too fast, hitting their brakes on bridges and not going easy I the gas pedal so how is this txdot fault. A little common sense and traffic would have moved smoother I drove every day and didn't have a problem. Could txdot do better yes but the city could have too

[Pkripper]

All but the snow blower. I grew up in IL and its just something you learn to prepare for - in advance. I bought 8 bags of salt last year at Target and Lowes. They sit in my garage until needed. I had plenty.

Plenty of revenue going in and through the state of Texas to invest and be better prepared. We're not NM from an economic point of view.

X2

[DeadeyeDeb]

Alot of the problem is people simply do not know how to drive on ice. That is understandable when we may only get an ice event every couple years. Ice driving is something that takes practice and repetition that the weather here just does not allow. It takes a bit of different skill level. Just simply turning into the skid goes against what your natural reaction is to do in that situation. Every bone in your body wants you to do the opposite.
People (and even some here on TBH) think 4wd can go anywhere at any time and can manuever on ice as on dry land. Not true. 4wd does no good on ice ecxept to help you out of the ditch when you spin out. In fact, it can be worse because the drivers for the most part of these vehicles think they are invincible and can drive anywhere and on anything.
I learned to drive on ice. But I don't go out of my way to be out in it now as I know most people do not. One of the things I did learning to drive on ice was find big relatively empty parking lots covered in ice and practice. With space and no barrier I could practice turning into the skid, pumping the brakes (before IBS brakes which yo do not pump and many people do and that makes it worse). In fact, one of my "road testing" while in Driver's ED was a nice storm going on and I had a free period and the driver's ed teacher came and got a couple of us to go out in it and learn.
This is not practical as we do not get ice enough to do this kinda practicing.
Another huge issue is the lack of salt use. In the northern states salt is used far, far more than sand. I do not understand why more salt is not used when needed. Probably due to storage. When you don't have ice events several times a year, storage and keeping heavy equipment that will just sit for maybe years at a time is very costly and not practical use of tax money.
Salt first to melt the ice, sand for traction.
Sand on ice does little good but gives drivers a false sense of security.
Also it would have done no good to salt before the sleet, freezing rain occured.
Everyone knew this was coming, but it hit worse than it was expected. And when that happened, the roads were clooged with "normal" traffic. Then they couldn't move.
How on earth can ANYBODY get the necessary equipment, no matter how much or how little, to where they need it when there is nonmoving traffic for miles and miles on end?
Too bad we didn't get snow with this as snow itself adds traction when on snow.
People need to slow down, stay home in these conditions or be prepared to sit on the roads or ditches or even the ER's if they feel they have to get out in it.
I realize people have to get to work. Take extra clothes and stay there til the roads are cleared. Be a part of the solution rather the problem.
Be sure if you set out in these conditions you have a full tank of fuel. In case you get stuck on the road for hours or even days. But not only for that reason, but a full tank gives you added traction due to more even weight distribution of the vehicle. If in a pick up, put weight in the bed for the same reason. Helps to reduce the fishtailing/spin outs.

[Goldeneagle]

Saw a report on the news last night. Said that if you strectched out all the highways and major roads just in the DFW area end to end, they come within 400 miles of going completely around the equator. Thats a lot of road clearing.

[Sparkles]

Saw a report on the news last night. Said that if you strectched out all the highways and major roads just in the DFW area end to end, they come within 400 miles of going completely around the equator. Thats a lot of road clearing.

And over 5000 bridges
They couldn't get sand mixture down in time because it would have just washed off the road with rain coming before the freeze.

[woody wood]

I think TxDOT failed big time. This storm did not sneak up on anyone. They knew almost a week ahead of time that serious ice was probable. Had they requested resources ahead of time, they could have prevented a bunch of the bad traffic issues. A TxDot spokesman on Friday said that road graders could do anything about the ice but by Saturday they were using them. Had they started using the road graders on the bridges on Friday morning, that alone would have prevented a ton of issues. The part of I35 between Denton and Sanger is bad everytime this happens. They know this yet didn't do anything significant until the problem was very bad.

I am not advocating that TxDot should invest millions in extra equipment that will maybe get used once a year, but for them to be proactive and utilize the equipment they already own.

[Dale Moser]

I have been in Ft Worth 6 years now and all but one winter we have needed plows and equipment to clear the roads. Granted this storm was the 2nd worst since I have been here. Super Bowl storm was the worst. I think they should invest in some equipment.

Snow plows are useless against solid ice, and they only have access to so many road graders. This was not snow, this was several inches of pack ice across a very large area with a **** ton of roads. Not to mention the melt and re-freeze routine which pretty much means the over passes need cleared every day. This isn't Oklahoma, and it isn't Kentucky.....WAY more people, WAY more roads/bridges/overpasses.

If you don't know how to deal with it, stay home. I personally don't want TXDOT wasting any money on more equipment for something that's happened twice in 25+ years. The influx of Yankees around here already has funds for building new roads way behind, and yall want to take away from that? We need new roads for every day, we don't need more road graders to clear ice once a year.

I drove to the deer lease Friday, and home Sunday with no trouble at all.

[Dale Moser]

4wd does no good on ice ecxept to help you out of the ditch when you spin out. .

That is completely false, and more than a little ridiculous.