As the Tri-State prepares for heavy snow and ice, local counties are working hard to keep roads as safe as possible for the drivers.Boone County Public Works began plowing and pre-treating roads after light snowfall Friday morning.This year, they will be using a newer chemical mix of calcium chloride with salt to help keep roads safe in these colder temperatures.It does two things. It activates the rock salt quicker, lets it work faster. And the calcium chloride itself actually lets us treat roadways to a lower temperature, said Boone County Engineer Robert Franxman.The mix allows the salt to be more effective and last longer in the upper teen temperatures. Without calcium chloride, salt is often less effective at around 24 degrees.With this addition of calcium chloride, we can hopefully get to bare pavement quicker, easier, and more often, Franxman said.Along with the new chemical mix, Boone County Public Works will also be salting and plowing the roads as usual. Their main salt barn holds around 5,000 tons of salt according to Franxman. Come Monday, almost half of that salt will be used.Franxman told us he estimates they will use around 2,000 tons of salt throughout the course of this storm. And when the snow hits, theyll be ready.Weve already throughout the day gotten all our trucks loaded and all our plows on and stuff so essentially everything is in a barn ready to go, Franxman said.Public Works has two fleets to keep up with the snowfall we are expected to see. Each fleet will work 12-16 hours and then rotate until the storm is over.Each fleet will have about 30 folks that are able to drive kind of continuously, Franxman said. We have around that many routes so that they can continuously work in a cycle, and continue to hit and repeat roads.If there are trouble spots, Franxman said several trucks could be sent out to one location. Even with their preparations, he said he wants drivers to give themselves and the snow plows space and time on the roads.There may be as much as an inch of snow an hour, so even with the best treatment methods there will be snow on the roadways, said Franxman.