TULSA, Okla.– As Winter Storm Cora wreaks havoc for millions of Americans in its icy path, the City of Tulsa’s MetroLink announced it’s offering free fares for riders throughout Friday, Jan. 10.
The storm has dumped a flurry of ice, snow, sleet and rain over a stretch of south central U.S. between I-20 and I-40 that has impacted over 50 million people, according to the National Weather Service.
A whopping six to 10 inches of snow is expected from eastern Oklahoma to the southern Appalachians Friday and Saturday.
Metrolink Tulsa snow routes
Along with making Friday rides free for all MetroLink passengers, the public transportation service also announced the activation of snow routes.
“Adjusted routes are designed to maintain reliable transportation while navigating icy and snowy conditions,” MetroLink explained in a press release.
Twelve routes have been adjusted in total. Meanwhile, the routes at 250 Crosstown, 440 Harvard, 450 Yale, 470 Garnett and 900 Broken Arrow remain the same. Visit this link for a full list of snow route adjustments.
Crews treat roads as travelers return home
AAA predicted roughly 119 million Americans would be traveling for the Christmas and New Year holiday season. As remaining travelers return home this weekend, workers have already begun to treat the roads to lessen the icy conditions.
Leon Kragel is Street Maintenance Operations Manager for the City of Tulsa. He said the city has collected 8500 tons of salt and 40,000 gallons of brine, a salt-water mixture used to break up ice.
“What they’ll do is, they’ll treat all bridges and overpasses. We’ve also got certain hills that we’ll also hit, and we’ll do all of downtown area,” Kragel said Thursday.
The preparations come in addition to the warming stations and services for unhoused individuals throughout the city in partnership with nonprofit organizations like the Tulsa Day Center, John 3:16 Mission, The Salvation Army Center of Hope, and Denver Avenue Station.
“Making sure that we have the capacity to be able to take care of them with our food and with our space and the shower facilities and all the needed items, the clothing room, to make sure we’re stocked up and ready to go,” Mack Haltom, the CEO of the Tulsa Day Center, told KTUL.
Ultimately, MetroLink Tulsa and city officials are asking residents to plan ahead, stay informed, allow extra travel time due to potential delays and stay home if possible.
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