GRAND LEDGE, Mich. — Here in MDOT’s Grand Ledge garage -- they’re getting ready to keep our roads safe during this winter storm – come check out their operation.
“We'll have 100% of our trucks out, and they'll just be ready to clear the roads, get the salt down and make sure you have a safe, safe road to drive on," said Aaron Jenkins, who works in media relations for MDOT's university region.
Here in mid-Michigan that means 20 trucks and four backups clearing the roads. Those four backups are just in case the storm gets particularly bad.
Those trucks you see behind Jenkins there are equipped with blades and salt– a combination of manually removing snow and pushing it to the side of the road and melting it with salt. But the Grand Ledge garage also uses something more commonly found.. in the fridge.
“Beet juice," Jenkins said. "We're trying new innovations and everything. We want to just make sure that it's it's a safe road.”
And the salt you see on the roads isn’t the one in your kitchen – it’s treated with calcium chloride which works to melt snow and ice even in subzero temperatures.
"A word to the wise, make sure that if if it is a bad system, stay home, enjoy your family and, you know, wait until the roads are safe to drive," he said.
Fox 47 will have continuing team coverage of this storm as it rolls in.
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