C.O. roads prepped for wintry holiday travel

Sunshine, blue skies and temperatures in the 50s — it didn’t really feel like winter in Bend on Monday, but forecasters assured snow and ice are on their way. Areas of the High Desert are expected to get 2 to 5 inches of snow on Tuesday — possibly more at higher elevations.

“Bring it on,” said Chris Doty, public works director for Deschutes County.

The Oregon Department of Transportation, the city of Bend and Deschutes County officials said they’re ready.

“All the plows have been mounted, sanders full, trucks fueled,” Doty said.

Peter Murphy with ODOT said they have prepared for months: “We’ve been getting ready for winter all season long. That’s what we do during the summer.”

ODOT in Bend is responsible for the maintenance of all the agency’s snow equipment across the state.

“We’re ground zero for making sure that our plows and our blowers are working well and are up for the conditions that we’ll find,” Murphy said.

David Abbas, director of street and operations at the city of Bend, said they have all hands on deck.

“We’ve got the crews ready to hop into sanders and snowplows as needed with the weather,” Abbas said.

On Monday morning, city crews applied de-icer to roads.

“We look at that as a pre-treatment for a storm,” Abbas said.

Meanwhile, ODOT and Deschutes County officials are still waiting.

“If you put that de-icer down, it draws the moisture out of the snow, which means it builds up on the highway — and that’s what we’re trying to avoid,” Murphy said.

Doty said that’ why the county was waiting until Monday night to apply de-icer.
“If you put it on a little too early, it can cause problems or evaporate,” Doty said.

On the other hand, you can’t wait too long either.

“Once it gets to the cold temperatures that is forecasted for the rest of the week, it’s really too cold for the application at that point,” Abbas said.

The winter storm is expected to hit right in time for the holiday travel period.

“For this Thanksgiving, we’ve seen a good size increase in traffic, not only nationally but also here in the Pacific Northwest,” said Cecilia Lee, operations manager at AAA.

Lee said AAA is expecting around 7 million travelers on roads in the Northwest over the Thanksgiving holiday. The increase in car travel might be due to the lowest gas prices since 2007, she explained.

Snow, ice or fog, officials recommend to check on conditions before you hit the road.

“We do what we can,” Murphy said. “Let’s make sure that drivers do what they can too.”

For the latest conditions, visit ODOT’s TripCheck at KTVZ.COM.