Daylight Freezing A Different Problem For Road Crews

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - This time, the hard North Texas freeze came in the middle of the day, instead of overnight. That means area street departments found themselves with an unusual potential daylight freeze problem.

A CBS 11 News crew went along as workers attacked trouble spots.

Bridges and overpasses, where fast moisture freezing can occur, are the biggest concern. One of those bridges, over White Rock Creek, is even big enough to shelter a sand/salt stockpile underneath.

Workers begin rooting out "hot spots" hours before trouble hits. "This is only a "scout" mode," explained worker Tim Daniels. "If we were in a full Ice Force 1 or 2 we would fill our sanders up."

Daniels says the reason his scout trucks are only partially filled is so they won't be slowed down while searching for trouble areas, which despite the freezing ice are called "hot spots."

"We can check the guardrails... the icing on the guard rails, the bridges as well as looking at the streets themselves," he said. "A lot of times guard rails are the first things to freeze."

Telltale ice on guardrails provides the same kind of advance warning 'canaries' that are used to warn coal miners.

Duncan Harvey not only trains in the summer months for icy winter days, he also brings a veteran eye to driving dangers. He says he looks for, "Potential hot spots like bridges, overpasses, shaded areas, areas that may hold water from the rain; left over puddles, things like that."

On this day it appears Dallas may have evaded trouble during the evening rush, because of competing weather forces. While Canadian cold created the threat, leading edge winds helped deflate it.

"It looks like the wind is our friend today," said Harvey. "The high wind we're getting is drying up most of the moisture and humidity that was left on the road."

Despite the lack of precipitation, there is still a threat of freezing water in puddles or from sprinkler systems that are left on.

Daniels advises drivers to always be on the lookout for "black ice." "When the streets start to change with that "shiny" glare, that's a potential sign they're going into an ice hazardous area," he said.

City of Dallas workers are responsible for side streets, but area highways are overseen by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and they too have crews out looking for hot spots and have put de-icer down in areas where they anticipate trouble.