COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Crews are working around the clock to keep roads safe as winter weather bears down on the region.

According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, about 200 trucks are on the roads throughout Central Ohio and drivers have begun working 16 hour shifts.

“A white Christmas for you means work for ODOT, so we will be out on those roads making sure you can get to where you’re going safely,” said Brooke Ebersole, an ODOT spokesperson. “That being said, our goal is always passable, not perfect, so as long as precipitation is falling, you should not expect roads to be perfect and dry. You should give yourself extra time to get wherever you’re going.”

Ebersole told NBC4 that crews were not able to pretreat the region’s interstates, highways, U.S. routes and state routes ahead of this storm because of the rainfall earlier on Thursday.

“Any time a winter storm comes in as rain, it doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to pretreat with brine because that rain will just wash the brine off the road,” she said.

Ebersole also said ODOT will primarily treat the roads with salt.

According to Charles Newman, from the city of Columbus, 40 trucks were on the roads as crews monitored conditions in the city, on Thursday afternoon.