CLEVELAND — The Ohio Department of Transportation and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine are asking motorists to stay off the road during the second half of the week as a major winter storm moves in beginning Wednesday.
“We are encouraging Ohioans to avoid any unnecessary trips during the storm to help give all of our road crews room to work,” said DeWine. “For those who must travel, please be safe and take it slow, giving yourself plenty of time to get to your destination.”
RELATED: Winter Storm Watches and Warnings in effect for most of Northeast Ohio beginning Wednesday at 7 p.m.
In Northeast Ohio, counties are under Winter Storm Watches and Warnings for significant amounts of snow, with most areas seeing between 9 and 14 inches of snowfall. Drift is also a potential issue due to high winds.
In central Ohio, freezing rain is the biggest weather threat because ODOT crews can’t pretreat the roads ahead of the storm, and once they are treated, rain continuously washes the material away.
ODOT asks if you must travel for any reason, give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination and take it slow.
"During winter storms, ODOT strives to keep roads passable to help ensure that emergency services and essential workers can safely reach their destinations," said ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks. “But even with our crews out in full force, roads will likely be snow and ice-covered, and it will take much longer to travel. Once the storm moves out, our crews will be able to make progress toward getting traffic moving at regular speed."
RELATED: Here's what we know about Winter Storm Landon
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