RI DOT prepping roads for messy morning commute

Though the snow totals Tuesday may not be very high, what’s going to come down will likely make for a mess while people are trying to get to work.

“The timing is just bad,” said RI DOT State Highway Maintenance Operations Engineer Joe Bucci. “And it’s been like that every storm this year, it seems to hit the morning commute.”

RI DOT crews will be coming in at 11 PM tonight about an hour before the latest snowfall is supposed to hit to salt the roads and keep them clear.

“Travel is going to be difficult,” said Bucci. “I don’t want people to think that they’re not going to be impacted. Roads could be slick. We’ll be out there.”

The timing is making things more difficult because the most snow will come down when there are lots of cars on the road.

“The traffic slows us down as well,” explained Bucci. “As always, don’t crowd the plow. Stay away. Let us do our job.”

As always, officials want you to drive as slow as you can and make sure to leave extra time.

While RI DOT says slush is their biggest concern in the morning, ice becomes a big threat Tuesday evening as the temperature drops.

“Drive slowly,” warned Bucci. “We see a lot of spin outs and things like that, just because people are going too fast for the conditions.”

While power outages are always possible, especially with ice possibly weighing on tree branches and power lines, National Grid tells us they are monitoring things but don’t believe the snow and sleet will pose too much of a threat this time around.