ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Transportation said it has trucks fanning out across north Georgia laying down a second layer of brine as threats from the winter storm now transition to ice.
More than 20,000 miles of Georgia roads have already been pretreated before the storm.
GDOT told Channel 2 investigative report Justin Gray said its focus is to get that second layer of brine down on as many roads as possible to prevent refreezing.
Lessons learned and resources invested since 2014’s Snowmageddon mean GDOT trucks started Wednesday fighting Friday’s snow and ice.
“Brine back in 2014 was not something we did. And so being able to get ahead of the game, play offense, just pays dividends,” GDOT commissioner Russell McMurry said. “We pre-treat at 20,000 miles of roads.”
RELATED STORIES:
- Winter storm: Here’s what you can expect Friday afternoon
- Winter storm: What are the snowfall totals for metro Atlanta on Friday?
- PHOTOS: Snow and conditions across metro Atlanta and North Georgia
- Georgia winter storm: Kemp, state officials give update on weather, road conditions
McMurry said preparing and responding to winter storms is a three-step process.
All day was spent trying to plow as much of the pretreated roads as possible. Throughout the evening, crews will start on a second round of brine as the temperatures drop.
“We’re right on that bubble with right around freezing and below. That gives us great concern. And for everybody’s safety, we need to stay off the roads,” McMurray said.
“From what we’ve seen in the past, it is better to be overprepared than not in these situations,” Gov. Brian Kemp said.
Monitoring the statewide response at the Georgia Emergency Management command center, Kemp also stressed the importance of that preparation. Three hundred snow plows, 600 GDOT employees are now working around the clock.
“When I got up this morning and it was snow and I was like, ‘I’m so glad we did what we did yesterday,’” Kemp said.
“We’re on the clock, though. We’ve got our first shift working now. We’ll make a shift change this evening at seven and stay with it around the clock,” McMurray said.
The big message from the commissioner: Continue to stay off the roads. Even a small change in temperature will lead to much more dangerous conditions with ice on the roads.
Your cars on the roads make it harder for them to clear and treat roads.