The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) would rather be safe than sorry. FDOT held a winter weather exercise to test out its winter operations equipment in order to avoid a situation two years ago where they were unprepared for icy road conditions.
Ian Satter, spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation, said, "What we had two years ago, lots of ice on the bridges, people didn't really know how to drive on it, but our crews really didn't have the right equipment and the right training."
Florida residents will see snow plows on the Hathaway and Bailey Bridges as well as I-79 and S.R. 388 around the Bay County area. FDOT says the bridges are the main focus of the winter equipment testing.
"We want to see how much chemicals will be needed to cover the bridges here in Bay County," said Satter. "We also want to test our crew and their ability to handle the equipment."
The FDOT spent $80,000 on winter equipment, consisting of five snow plows, 42 tons of salt and 44 gallons of chemicals.
