Public Works Crews Treating Arlington Streets During Extreme Winter Weather

By Susan Schrock, Office of Communications

Posted on February 19, 2025, February 19, 2025

Photo caption: City of Arlington Public Works crews treating a section of Little Road near Interstate 20 on Feb. 19, 2025.

With this week’s wintry weather bringing freezing rain and dangerously cold wind chills, Arlington’s Public Works crews have been working around the clock to keep streets safer for drivers.

Public Works crews began working 12-hour shifts on Tuesday, responding when needed to help improve traction for drivers on Arlington’s streets and nearly three dozen bridge crossings. This includes Division Street (State Highway 180), Pioneer Parkway (Spur 303), the crossings over Johnson Creek, and the elevated bridge decks over Interstate 20, Interstate 30, State Highway 360 and U.S. Highway 287 in the city limits.

Crews pre-treated bridge crossings and elevated bridge decks with a salt brine mixture late last week to help prevent ice buildup. Now, Public Works crews are spreading a sand-like material with salt in it, known as “ice-chat,” to help drivers safely navigate any icy patches that may have developed on city streets or on the bridge crossings and elevated bridge decks since those areas were pretreated. On Wednesday morning, for example, crews applied ice-chat to a section of Little Road near Interstate 20 after a water main broke.

 In addition to treating bridge crossings, the City applies ice-chat material to the hospitals’ emergency department driveways to help improve traction for emergency vehicles.

 Overall, Arlington is equipped with seven sander trucks, which can transport 10 tons of ice-chat material, and three salt-brine application trucks to roll out ahead of extreme winter weather conditions.