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NDOR prepared for snow, says I-80 closures...

Posted at 5:53 PM, Feb 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-01 19:27:02-05

Interstate 80 and I-680 are just two of the main highways that go right through Omaha with tens of thousands of drivers each day.  County roads are heavily traveled as well, and the state’s road crews are prepared.

The metro district of the Nebraska Department of Roads covers all highways and interstates from the Missouri River to where I-80 and Highway 370 meet.

Their 40 plow trucks are loaded up and ready to go.  They won't pre-treat the roads because the rain would wash it away.  Even with anywhere from 8-12 inches of snow heading for Douglas County, they say it's business as usual.

Since Jim Laughlin's been with NDOR he says the interstate in the metro has never been closed because of snow.

"The traveling public expects to be able to get where they're going and we try to keep it that way.  Plus we have a major interstate that runs through Omaha with truck traffic, we try to keep it open and we try to keep it open so they can keep moving,"  Laughlin the superintendent of the NDOR’s Omaha office explained.

NDOR will be running 12-hour plow shifts starting at midnight that will run for 24 hours.

Laughlin wants drivers to avoid the roads Tuesday if the snow falls as much as expected.  But if you have to go out, he says slow down.