ATLANTA — Georgia Department of Transportation crews are out Saturday night treating roads ahead of the anticipated winter storm ahead. They've brought workers up all the way from southeast Georgia for more manpower.
GDOT expects most of the icy conditions on roads northeast of the Atlanta Metro area.
“It is a big footprint that we are treating as a state agency," GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale said.
Around 2,000 GDOT crew members are part of that footprint and have already put down one layer of brine to prevent ice and snow from creating dangerous driving conditions.
“We’ve got tankers out right now getting that second coat of brine down," Dale said. "Which is not something we always do-- but because this system, especially in the metro area, is going to come in first as rain we are going to get some dilution of that brine," Dale said.
Crews are paying special attention to bridges and overpasses, which tend to ice up first.
“In finishing this second brine route, we will begin by dropping that harder material, that straight granular salt on to bridges and overpasses because those are typically the first to ice up when we have these situations," Dale said.
Dale expects this storm to be especially difficult to treat because of all the forecasted ice.
“We're on 24/7 now. Our crews do not stop working," Dale said. "They're on 12-hours-on and 12-hour-off shifts, so our crews do not stop until the end of this which we anticipate at this time being sometime mid-late Monday that we get out of freezing.“
GDOT feels confident about their preparations for the storm, but they do ask drivers to stay off the roads Sunday unless it's absolutely necessary.