Little Rock, Arkansas – Arkansas Department of Transportation crews will conduct a winter weather preparedness exercise in central Arkansas on Tuesday, October 27, testing equipment, practicing assigned routes and coordinating their response to a simulated winter storm.
The training will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and involve all members of ARDOT’s Winter Weather Strike Team, along with several district maintenance crews from across the state. The department’s Emergency Operations Center will be activated for the exercise to support communication with participating personnel.
Activities will include driver training, equipment inspections and road tests of snowplow trucks. Crews will also practice communicating with the Emergency Operations Center, bringing field operations and emergency coordination together before winter conditions arrive.
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The Winter Weather Strike Team consists of field personnel drawn from ARDOT’s statewide maintenance crews. The exercise gives those employees an opportunity to prepare equipment and become familiar with their responsibilities under simulated conditions.
“The drill gives our crews the opportunity to respond to a simulated winter weather event by hooking up all the snowplows and salt spreaders and getting familiar with their assigned routes before there is snow and ice on the ground,” Deric Wyatt, ARDOT State Maintenance Engineer, said. “When the whole team goes into the winter season working from the same game plan, we can do the job safely and efficiently. At the end of the day our goal is for everyone to make it to their destination and back home safely to their friends and family.”
During actual winter storms, the strike team reinforces other ARDOT maintenance personnel working to clear snow and ice from interstates and major highways. Those operations continue around the clock across Arkansas as crews address winter roadway conditions.
The team also reports road conditions directly to the department’s Maintenance Division at ARDOT’s Central Office in Little Rock. That communication is part of the operational work crews prepare for before being called into action during a storm.
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The October 27 exercise is one component of a broader preparation process that includes maintaining supplies and getting equipment ready throughout the year. ARDOT stores approximately 80,000 tons of salt at sites across Arkansas to support its winter response.
The department owns 116 salt storage facilities, which are replenished during the summer so they are fully stocked at the beginning of the winter season. It also has more than 600 snowplows stationed at County Maintenance Headquarters and District Offices throughout the state.
Alongside the field exercise, ARDOT holds regular preparedness meetings and tests the winter weather features on IDriveArkansas.com. Those activities complement the equipment checks and route familiarization included in the central Arkansas drill.
“When winter weather strikes, the men and women of ARDOT put their lives on hold until the roads are clear and the public is moving again,” ARDOT Director Jared Wiley said. “ARDOT’s successes are not coincidental. Our teams plan, practice, and ready equipment ahead of time so that when mother nature threatens, we are ready to go.”
The scheduled training will allow participating crews to work through their winter assignments together, with snowplows, spreading equipment and emergency communications all included in the day’s preparations.
