GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The new year is nearly here, but West Michigan will face a strong storm before 2019 is over.
As accumulating snow arrives Monday night and into New Year's Eve, local road commissions are working to keep drivers safe on the roads as they travel for the holiday.
Crews in Kent County will be using a mix of salt and sand on the roads. They say the temperature is warm enough that they could use only salt, but because of how much snow is expected, they feel like adding sand will help.
"Every storm is different — that's why we get a lot of criticism sometimes," said Jerry Byrne, director of operations for the Kent County Road Commission. "It's going to be 32 degrees, 30 degrees, why not pure salt? When it's snowing that hard, we need to mechanically scrape off as much as we can. You put salt down and it dilutes and scrapes off into the environment, so that's why it will be a 50/50 salt-sand mix."
Road commission trucks typically salt streets in neighborhoods after they have cleared highways and main roads.
If you're driving behind a snowplow, be sure to keep a safe distance — they cannot see directly behind their rigs.
Also, do not pass snowplows on the right. Plow wings can often be difficult to see and damage passing cars.
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