With winter storm near, road crews, Duke Energy, Cincinnati Auto Club ready to spring to action

Snow plows and salt trucks are ready. Duke Energy crews are ready. The Cincinnati Auto Club is ready. Are you? With the Tri-State expecting a significant storm Friday, you can bet that crews all over the area are carefully following its every movement. We know it’s coming, we just don’t know how much. CHECK the latest forecast and weather conditions. Salt was loaded on trucks Thursday, and Cincinnati’s public service crews begin working 12-hour shifts at 7 a.m.  Friday. Nearly 80 drivers are ready to hit the roads when the first precipitation falls — and that could be ice. “We have to utilize salt.  We have to try to break that ice up,” said Public Services Superintendent Jarrod Bolden. “Salt is effective in its liquid form, so we have to constantly apply it. The one thing about ice is that it takes multiple trips on our route to become effective.” Bolden was in the winter operations center Thursday carefully monitoring preparations. “Trucks are equipped with spreaders so salt will be ready. Plows are attached, so it will be very easy to go from one to the next,” he said. Ice is a big concern for power lines. It doesn’t take much  bring lines down, according to Duke Energy’s Sally Thelen. “Generally speaking, a quarter inch of ice on our lines is something that is going to be a very significant issue for us to work with,” Thelen said.