Maryland's response to winter weather is ever-changing

With snow in the forecast, the agency in charge of many of the state's roadways are making sure preparations are in place.

The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) has already been putting parts of its plan in motion, utilizing infrared technology to really make a difference with its efforts.

What's in the toolbox?

For those who will be navigating the snow this weekend, SHA is making sure it won't be too much of a hassle.

There will be hundreds of workers and contractors using over 386,000 tons of salt, as well as 1.6 million gallons of salt brine, among other materials.

Crews were out on Friday pre-treating roads with salt brine.

"At least 48 hours ahead of the storm, we kind of modify the forecast and push the information out to our maintenance forces as we get closer to the event," said Dan Houck, SHA's Director of Office of Maintenance.

While SHA has a lot of salt on hand, it's been working to reduce how much it uses for years.

"We have at our disposal the trainings, the knowledge, the resources, and what we need to do to make the best decision as far as salt usage goes," said Scott Simons, Statewide Winter Operations Coordinator.

Snowplows will be out in full force. SHA reminds people to avoid crowding them.

Bruce Buckner has been a snowplow operator for 18 years with SHA. He said one of the biggest mistakes he sees people make is getting out of their car when they're stuck.

"It's not good because I've seen cars slide 200 feet. We don't want pedestrians [on the road]. We want to help you," he said.

Utilizing technology

SHA works with the National Weather Service, as well as its own private forecasting group, to figure out what weather we'll be seeing -- and how best to utilize crews.

A team will be monitoring conditions from SHA's statewide operations center in Hanover, which just recently celebrated 30 years in service.

The center is central command for all roadway management, especially during weather events.

While SHA has been using infrared sensors at its weather stations for some time, it recently put this technology on its vehicles, providing more real-time data to those in statewide operations center.

"That kind of technology can detect if a road is just wet, or if it's about to freeze because it's taking all of those calculations within a few seconds," SHA spokesman Charlie Gischlar said. "Putting that into our operators hands so that we could smartly deploy folks."

You're able to see SHA's vehicle response in real-time, as well as road conditions, on the Statewide Transporation Operations Response Map (STORM).

STORM is easy to use on your phone or desktop computer, check it out here.