Careful Driving On Winter Roads

While temperatures have been a little warmer for a couple of days, colder weather is here again and the Houghton County Road Commission is reminding drivers to use caution while on the roadways.

Keweenaw motorists are all familiar with the slipping and sliding that takes place this time of year.

And the Road Commission here in Houghton County does their best to keep those roads clear.

County engineer, Kevin Harju reminds drivers to use a little extra caution during the snowy season.

Harju said, “The big thing this time of year is everyone’s got to learn how to drive in the winter again. Slow down. There’s a lot of ice in spots that takes us a while to get to.”

Each time it snows, the crews take to the roadways to plow and depending on weather conditions and temperature, those trucks will use either salt or sand to provide traction under your tires.

Harju said, “Under 20 degrees, salt becomes very ineffective. What happens is it melts the ice and the snow but then it instantly freezes back into black ice, which is even more treacherous than what you’re going in after. As soon as the temperature gets down below 20 degrees, we go to more of a primarily sand with a little salt mix. It has about 5 percent salt in it.”

Harju advises motorists to keep a safe distance from the plow trucks.

“Bear with us and give the plows some room. Unfortunately this year we did have a few accidents where people ran into our plow trucks, which is not a good situation.”

It’s reported that most accidents involving a plow truck are caused by motorists who drive too fast for winter road conditions