The City of Tacoma received a new shipment of 400 tons of salt to treat the roads ahead of possible snow showers on Saturday.
KIRO 7′s Weather Team is forecasting that the South Sound could see snow showers beginning Saturday morning, which could create slick roads for drivers.
Josh Guild, street maintenance supervisor with the City of Tacoma, said his crews have been treating the roads throughout the past week – many have been working overtime to keep drivers safe.
“Two straight weeks of work without a day off. So these guys put in a lot of time, a lot of effort, time away from their family,” he said. “We were out pretreating the roads, brining, shooting our salt brine on the elevated roadways, curbs, hills, things like that, stops and starts, specific areas that could be prone to icing over.”
While crews are taking a break Friday night, Guild said many workers are on standby for Saturday’s possible slick roads.
He said 15 plow trucks are ready to hit the streets to clear any snow, especially bridges and elevated roads.
Guild urged drivers to drive cautiously, despite his crews’ efforts.
“The risk isn’t gone. We’re out there pretreating, but we don’t shoot 100 percent of the roadways in the city,” he said. “Safety is our top priority.”
“Just stay safe, be aware of your surroundings and be courteous of other people on the roadway,” the supervisor added.
KIRO 7 News also reached out to Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) to understand how the frigid temperatures are impacting the city’s power grid.
“Tacoma Power has studied power usage during inclement weather events and has verified the system can meet power demands during these events. If we do experience an ice storm and possible outages, that typically is due to physical damage and is not a capacity issue,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
TPU is sharing the following advice to help families reduce their heating bills:
- Make sure all your windows and doors are closed tightly. Keeping cold air out is a critical part of keeping it warm inside
- Take advantage of your curtains, blinds, and shades. When drawn, standard curtains can reduce a room’s heat loss by 10%
- Clean or replace the filters in your heating system. Dirty filters make your system work harder and run longer than necessary
For more details on power outages, please click here.
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