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State Highway Crews pre-treat roads

Posted at 11:20 PM, Feb 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-09 08:04:00-05

A winter storm warning is in effect for the Baltimore area starting at 10 p.m. Monday through 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. And while remnants from the last storm still cover the ground, some residents are still looking forward to more snow.

“There's a certain extent where you're like okay, let's go back to work, enough is enough, but we'll take it,” said Ella and Peter Yeargin.

Related: Winter Storm Warning in effect until 6 a.m. Wednesday

Rob Glotfelty, a Baltimore City school teacher, is also hoping for a snow day. “I've heard a lot of people saying they're ready for it to be done now and get warm, but of course it's also going to get really cold this weekend so we might as well buckle in for a few more days,” he said.

See also: School Closings & Delays

While Glotfelty waits to hear about school closings, the Maryland State Highway Emergency Operations is open, and crews have already been working around the clock to pre-treat roads.

“We have folks coming in and working overnight Monday, all day Tuesday and then potentially into Wednesday,” said David Buck, a spokesperson for the Maryland State Highway Administration.

Buck added that the recent historic snowstorm depleted manpower, but fortunately didn't affect their salt supplies.

“Really, we didn't use a lot of salt during the storm because it was a plowing operation, so obviously it was taxing on people that work seven, eight, or nine days in a row, but in terms of supplies, we have more than enough to get us through this and many more storms,” Buck said.

The last storm however, did take a hit on road budgets. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced Monday that Winter Storm Jonas cost the county $9.4 million, the most in their county’s snow removal history. A spokesman for the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office said they’re still working on tallying total storm expenses. Buck said SHA is working to determine what's left of their remaining snow budget.

“Beyond our budget, we keep going. We don't stop plowing or salting, we do what we have to do and then come spring time we look at where we are and then figure out where to come up with the extra money,” Buck said.

And just like with any other storm, highway officials are asking for patience and for people to avoid the roads so crews have room to operate.

“Realistic expectations is what we always try to tell folks and that's that we're going to make a lot of progress once the storm stops, but when it's going on we just try to keep up with it,” said Buck.

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