The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) will host a statewide winter weather exercise on Tuesday, October 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., as part of its annual preparedness efforts. The simulation will take place in central Arkansas and involve ARDOT’s Winter Weather Strike Team and district maintenance crews.
The exercise will focus on training drivers, conducting equipment inspections, road-testing snowplow trucks, and simulating coordination with ARDOT’s Emergency Operations Center, which will be activated for the drill.
"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’s 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."
According to a news release, the Winter Weather Strike Team assists in 24-hour operations to clear snow and ice from interstates and major highways across Arkansas during severe weather events. The team also monitors roadway conditions and communicates updates directly to ARDOT’s Central Office in Little Rock.
To ensure readiness, ARDOT has stockpiled approximately 80,000 tons of road salt in 116 storage facilities around the state. The agency has also stationed more than 600 snowplows at county maintenance headquarters and district offices. These preparations are supplemented by regular training sessions and equipment tests, including features available on IDriveArkansas.com, ARDOT’s road conditions platform.
“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 drill underscores ARDOT’s proactive approach to public safety as the agency works to reduce disruptions and risks during Arkansas’s unpredictable winter weather season.