CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The roads are treated with brine, and now it’s a waiting game for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Crews will work 12-hour shifts until the winter weather event expected Friday is over. Their response started Wednesday with pre-treating the main roads and interstates.
“We haven’t seen a snow event like this in several years,” said Garret Ratcliffe, Mecklenburg County’s maintenance engineer.
Workers have spent the past couple of days putting out about 100,000 gallons of salt brine. It’s a mixture of salt and water. They spray it on the roads when the temperatures are a little warmer during the day, so it can dry and leave the salt residue on the roads. It helps to prevent freezing on the roadways.
It took about two days to treat all of the main interstates and roads in and around Mecklenburg County. Now, they wait.
“We’re going to watch the weather really closely,” said Mike Mariano, NCDOT’s assistant division maintenance engineer. “Once we get a better idea of when our crews will come in on Friday, we’ll have everything loaded up on the trucks. They’ll just have to hop in, get loaded down with salt and then they can go stage at their site.”
The next step will be to switch out equipment on the trucks, so they can spread salt on icy areas starting Friday. They’ve got about 5,000 tons ready to go, but they need you to stay at home so they can do their jobs.
“Take your kids and dogs to play out in the snow,” said Ratcliffe. “Let them enjoy the snow out in the yard. But do not get in those vehicles. Let us do our work.”
NCDOT crews will work as quickly as they can to treat any icy areas. The agency does have an online reporting tool you can use.
