Joe Kralicek, Executive Director of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, Steve Piltz, Meteorologist in Charge at the National Weather Service in Tulsa, and Stan Whiteford from Public Service Company of Oklahoma, spoke about weather preparedness for Tulsa.

The City of Tulsa is responsible for clearing snow and ice from certain segments of the Tulsa expressway system and all arterial (main) streets. Other expressway segments in Tulsa are the responsibility of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

The goal is to make expressways and arterial streets safe and passable as soon as possible after snowfall or ice begins.

These resources are available:

• 49 truck-mounted salt spreaders
• 44 truck-mounted snowplows (Of the 49 trucks with spreaders, 44 have plows.)
• 7 4×4 pick-up trucks equipped with snow plows
• 3 motor graders for use as plows
• 170 employees (including drivers and support staff)
• Approximately 12,000 tons of salt on hand
• 2 salt brine systems equipped with 2 applicators

The salt brine system serves as an anti-icing agent by helping prevent precipitation from bonding to the roadway.

Crews are assigned to 35 specific routes totaling 1,770 lane-miles, which is approximately the same distance as driving from Tulsa to San Francisco.

Spreading and plowing routes are prioritized based on traffic counts. Once the main streets are cleared and conditions permit, selected residential streets may be treated based upon traffic and steepness.

During winter weather response, the first focus is to clear city arterial streets for emergency responders. After arterial streets are clear, the second focus then moves to residential or collector streets near hospitals, schools and areas with steep hills.