ST. LOUIS – Ahead of Tuesday’s snowstorm, MoDOT chose not to pre-treat St. Louis-area roads. While the decision may surprise some, officials say it’s part of a strategic approach as the snow unfolds.

Drivers who hit the roads Tuesday morning quickly noticed the impact. Some measurable snow fell overnight Monday into Tuesday morning, leaving many roads largely untouched and causing tricky travel conditions.

Even so, the heaviest snowfall is still ahead for much of Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. The first wave of snow was light and fluffy, setting the stage for more significant action through Wednesday.

Bob Becker, a district maintenance engineer for MoDOT’s St. Louis district, says pre-treating ahead of this storm could have backfired.

“With these extreme temperatures, we’re not expecting a whole lot of sticking on the roadways initially,” said Becker during a Monday news conference. “We’re hoping with the pavements cold, it will be blowing around, and we’ll be plowing it off as we go. We’re not treating ahead of this storm because we’re trying to avoid [chemical] starting to melt right away as it hits the pavement. We’re going to rely on some of that blowing off for awhile.”

With extreme cold and fluffy snow to start and more of the same on the way, he says road treatments might have melted too soon, refroze, and created hazardous ice.

“It’s a light fluffier snow. If we put a chemical down, and the snow hits the roadway, and it reacts, it will melt [the chemical], it will dilute it right away, and it will turn into ice right away,” said Becker. “What we’re relying on in the initial part of this storm is that the pavement will be cold. It will hit. It won’t really melt.”

“We can get some of that pushed off the roadway before we get those [more intense] conditions. Eventually, we’re going to have to start treating when we get a certain amount of snow. It’s going to have to happen, but initially, we don’t want to do that and cause a problem right away.”

Instead, crews are relying on cold pavement to prevent snow from sticking onto roads too quickly, giving plows a chance to clear roads before additional treatment or heavier snow arrives.

“There’s multiple things that go into that,” said Becker. “Temperatures are a big factor. The extremes right now, and how that moisture is coming in. Like I said, we don’t typically treat ahead of a big storm whenever it’s going to rain ahead of time, and the same thing when it’s a light snow just like this. There’s a lot of variables that go into that.”

MoDOT encourages drivers to avoid travel unless necessary through at least Wednesday morning. Those who need to drive are encouraged to take it slow and give other drivers, including MoDOT crews, extra space.