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New York City sanitation officials show off preparations for winter weather

NYC Department of Sanitation gearing up for winter
NYC Department of Sanitation gearing up for winter 00:39

NEW YORK -- Winter is on the way, and New York City is ready.

Sanitation officials gave a "snow and tell" on Tuesday, showing how sanitation trucks are transformed to take on the snow. Plows and snow chains are added before drivers hit the streets.

Officials say some 700 million pounds of salt is already available when the time comes.

"I would say the most difficult challenge in the winter is really a frozen precip storm, something that's icy. Anything else, you know, we have the playbook for. We have the playbook for that, but ice always presents a bigger challenge than any snow storm," DSNY assistant chief of operations Christian Hourihan said.

When the snow and ice comes, crews have about 19,000 lane miles of roadway to clear around the city.

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