TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - There's a cold night ahead--the first one here in a long time that leads to some serious preps to keep people safe.
After a long spell of surprisingly warm weather. It's finally time to prep for a little cold. That means preparations to keep drivers safe on the roads and help keep homeless people warm.
Tucson's Department of Transportation starts treating bridges when there's a chance of a freeze in the forecast.
Bridges can ice up before a regular road because air circulates under a bridge and chills down the structure.
That's why the city sprays de-icer. Mike Graham of TDOT says one treatment can help hold off the ice for a long time.
Magnesium chloride is a good anti icing agent for approximately ten days without any rainfall. If we get some rain in there then with the forecast of freezing temperatures then we'll go out and spray again as long as we don't have any forecast of wet weather."
And the city says magnesium chloride will not make you car rust, unlike salt used in other places.
The forecast has the Salvation Army preparing to keep more homeless people safe from the cold.
Hospitality House near Speedway and Main supplements its usual one hundred beds with as many as 70 additional cots.
Corey Leith of Salvation Army says even with the cold, some people would still rather spend the night outside.
"Sometimes people do come up here just asking for a blanket. That's why donations are so important because they come in, they don't want to stay inside here. We just give them a blanket or give them a coat and they go back to where they come."
To help hold off the cold, Salvation Army is collecting coats and blankets at Vantage Bowling Centers like Lucky Strike, at Naughton's Plumbing and at Hospitality House.
