Dover — As a winter storm arrives in Delaware, Department of Transportation personnel are planning to work through the night, if necessary, to make the roads as safe as possible for the morning commute. After spending the day pretreating the roads with salt and salt brine, crews in Kent and New Castle County will remain at work. They will be staging the plows throughout the state, so they can quickly respond as soon as the snow starts to fall.

In Sussex County, crews will be allowed to go home, but are expected to be called back to work later tonight, around 10 p.m. Supervisors will remain at work, monitoring road conditions. With the expected high winds and low temperatures, drifting may become a major challenge, with the snow blowing back onto roads that have already been plowed.

DelDOT Snow Operations Facts
Personnel
As many as 500 employees take part in snow removal operations.
— During severe storms, DelDOT hires private contractors to help with snow removal on bus routes, along highway shoulders, and with the clearing of crossover areas and intersections.

Equipment
Statewide, about 450 vehicles are available for snow operations.
— This includes trucks as well as graders and other tractors.

Materials
DelDOT primarily uses salt, along with salt/brine and salt/sand mixtures.
— We have approximately 65,000 tons of salt
— Salt is stockpiled in more than 20 locations throughout the state.
— Due to constant replenishment, salt stockpiles are currently full.

Driving Tips
Because the approaching storm will be accompanied by very cold temperatures which could create icy road conditions, DelDOT urges motorists to limit travel to essential trips, allow plenty of time to reach destinations, drive with lights on, wear warm clothing and carry a fully-charged cellular phone with contact information for someone who can be called for help in case of a roadside emergency.

In addition, motorists should make sure their vehicle has at least a half tank of fuel.

Dover – Officers arrested 9 individuals for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or drugs last weekend as part of the Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign.  There have been over 3,700 DUI arrests statewide since January.

In addition to last weekend’s 9 DUI arrests, officers issued 2 citations for underage drinking, apprehended 3 wanted individuals, made 3 drug arrests, issued 1 cell phone citation, issued 2 seat belt citations, issued 1 child restraint citation, and issued 36 citations for various other traffic violations.

Three sobriety checkpoints are scheduled to occur the weekend of October 13th.  They are scheduled as follows:

Friday October 12th–         Newport (NcCo DUI Task Force)- checkpoint

Fenwick Island (DSP) – checkpoint

Saturday October 13th-     Rehoboth Beach (multi-jurisdictional effort)- checkpoint

Those convicted of a first time DUI offense in Delaware can expect to lose their driver’s license for up to three months, attend an 8-week DUI treatment class and pay nearly 4-thousand dollars in court, treatment, DMV, and lawyer’s fees.

Checkpoint Strikeforce is a regional sobriety checkpoint campaign aimed at arresting DUI offenders, and using high visibility enforcement to deter those who would otherwise choose to drink and drive.  The campaign, a six month long effort running through New Year’s Eve, involves setting up weekly DUI checkpoints statewide.

For more information on Checkpoint Strikeforce visit www.ohs.delaware.gov and follow regular campaign updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DEHighwaySafe and Facebook www.facebook.com/ArriveAliveDE.  You can also see the real consequences of a DUI in Delaware at DUIRealTime.com.