Press Release – As a strong cold front affects much of Texas, crews with the Texas Department of Transportation’s Brownwood District are pretreating some roadways with a brine solution in anticipation of light wintry precipitation on Wednesday.

In Eastland County, crews are pretreating bridges and overpasses on Interstate 20, as well as Ranger Hill.

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In addition, crews in Coleman and McCulloch counties are pretreating major roadways in those counties. OtherBrownwood District counties may begin pretreating roadways as well, depending on weather forecasts. At this time, the National Weather Service is not anticipating significant winter weather impacts in the Brownwood District.

Motorists are urged to be on the lookout for slower-moving TxDOT vehicles involved in the pretreatment process.

TxDOT has extensively used brine, a solution of water and salt, in recent years as an effective pretreatment for roadways prior to freezing precipitation. The brine is applied using spray nozzles attached to tanks mounted on the back of TxDOT trucks, forming a milky appearance on the roadway. The brine helps to prevent the bonding of frozen precipitation to the pavement, aiding in the removal of snow and ice.

Although widespread travel impacts are not expected with this weather system, TxDOT crews will remain vigilant in treating roadways as needed. Travelers are encouraged to plan ahead and check roadway conditions prior to travel through Wednesday night.

TxDOT roadway conditions statewide are available at DriveTexas.org or by calling 1-800-452-9292. The Brownwood District Twitter feed (@TxDOTBWD) will be updated as road conditions change. Other TxDOT Twitter feeds and the TxDOT Facebook page are also valuable resources for travel conditions across the state.

More winter weather travel information is available on the TxDOT website.

TxDOT’s Brownwood District includes Brown, Coleman, Comanche, Eastland, Lampasas, McCulloch, Mills, San Saba and Stephens counties.