Metro Travel: What to Watch Out For

Oklahoma City travelers are being asked to stay weather aware as the winter storm moved into the metro area.  Oklahoma City street crews begin storm rotation schedules at midnight Tuesday morning.  The crews will focus on bridges and overpasses.  

One of the biggest threats to drivers in Oklahoma City will be if the snow and winds combine to create drifts like those seen in Western Oklahoma.  “If it does start blowing a lot of snow then we'll have to run our plows three or four abreast so that will limit the number of emergency snow routes we can tackle in an amount of time,” said Kristy Yager, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation sent road crews and plows from southern parts of the state to reinforce crews in the heavier hit northern and northwestern parts of Oklahoma.  In the metro area ODOT says it will have crews on standby monitoring the surface temperatures to see what kind of treatment is needed.

Tuesday morning travelers will likely face delays at Will Rogers World Airport.  Monday afternoon American Airlines suspended all flights coming into Oklahoma City.  Delta Airlines canceled evening flights into the city based on snow predictions. 

“The arrivals that were scheduled on American that were canceled today and the late night arrivals on Delta that were canceled, they won't be here in the morning to take off on those early morning,” said Karen Carney, a spokeswoman for Will Rogers World Airport.  “I think we're expecting mid-morning to see those schedules get back to normal.”

Carney says the airport plans to remain open and crews will focus on keeping the runways and taxiways clear for any incoming or outgoing flights.  The airport warns travelers to always check ahead to make sure their flight hasn’t been delayed or canceled. 
Metro Travel: What to Watch Out For

Posted: Monday, February 25 2013, 06:14 PM CST