Prairie State Wire

As winter approaches, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Illinois State Police (ISP), and Illinois Tollway are urging residents to prepare for snowy and icy conditions with their "Winter Weather - Get it Together" campaign. The initiative emphasizes safety measures and preparedness as snow and ice become more likely.

Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman highlighted the importance of public cooperation in ensuring safety during winter months. "At IDOT, preparing for winter is a year-long endeavor, but we need the public's help to keep you and your loved ones safe during the coming weeks and months," he stated. He advised drivers to plan ahead, reduce speeds, increase stopping distances, anticipate changing conditions, and avoid crowding snowplows.

The campaign encourages drivers to practice basic winter driving skills now. Key recommendations include checking travel conditions on GettingAroundIllinois.com before traveling, avoiding unnecessary trips during bad weather, allowing extra travel time, watching for black ice, being cautious at intersections and bridges prone to icing, not crowding plows, and preparing an emergency kit.

ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly emphasized driver responsibility in keeping roads safe for troopers assisting stranded motorists. "Winter weather will be here soon and navigating our roadways will take a little more time and patience," he said. He urged drivers to move over for emergency vehicles.

A shortage of commercial driver's license holders may impact snow-and-ice response times due to difficulties filling plow driver positions since the pandemic began. IDOT continues hiring efforts while maintaining a fleet of over 1,800 trucks ready to clear more than 17,000 miles of roads statewide this winter.

Cassaundra Rouse from the Illinois Tollway assured that their priority is customer safety by deploying workers and snowplows swiftly during severe weather. She asked drivers to slow down near snowplows or emergency responders. In case of stranding along tollways' 294 miles of roads cleared by 196 snowplows this season—drivers should call *999 for assistance.

Real-time updates on roadway incidents can be accessed via Tollway Trip Tweets through various Twitter handles like @94_294_Tollway or @I_90_Tollway among others.