Raleigh – Crews across Division 5, which covers Wake, Durham, Warren, Franklin, Vance, Granville and Person counties, are continuing to clear roads left covered in ice and snow by this week’s winter weather.
Trying to get ahead of the forecasted bitter temperatures that will grip the area the rest of the week, more than 90 Wake County workers, joined by crews from four other NCDOT divisions in other parts of the state are concentrating on clearing secondary roads in the Raleigh area. Interstates and most U.S. and N.C. highways in the area were cleared for the most part by late Tuesday. However, slippery spots remain in some areas so drivers are still urged to drive carefully.
An overnight crew kept an eye on area bridges, overpasses and ramps, and was ready to deal with any slick spots brought to their attention.
The full maintenance crew, many of which worked from Monday morning well into Tuesday afternoon, returned to work this morning. They were joined by others workers from areas that weren’t as hard hit and were able to clear their own roads. Wake County has the most state road mileage of any of the state’s 100 counties at almost 2,340 miles, nearly 600 miles more than any other county.
The attack on the secondary roads included using salt to soften up the icy conditions, then plows and in some places graders to push accumulation away, then more salt/sand to help clear what is left. They will go until dark. Then it is back to the smaller overnight crew to be on the lookout for slippery spots.
In clearing the roads in Wake County, more than 2,500 tons of salt has been used, with another 50 tons of a salt/sand mix.
Similar efforts have been under way in the division’s other counties, including Durham, where nearly about three dozen workers have been out in trucks to work on secondary roads. They will work into the night, or until it gets too cold to clear ice. Then a smaller crew will be in overnight to deal with slick spots and check on bridge, overpasses, etc. But it will get to a point temperature wise that even salt can’t melt the ice. A full crew will return in the morning to see what it can do within the temperature restrictions.
With the icy spots that aren’t cleared by this evening possibly lingering into the weekend because the single digit temperatures will make them virtually impossible to eliminate, drivers should continue to drive cautiously, allowed for extra time to reach their destination, and keep a safe distance behind the vehicle in front of them for safety reasons.
NCDOT offers these other safety tips for driving in winter weather:
- Approach bridges and overpasses them with extreme caution and do not apply your brakes while on a bridge unless necessary;
- If you begin to slide, take your foot off the gas and turn the steering wheel in the direction of the slide. Do not apply the brakes as that will cause further loss of control of the car;
- Come to a complete stop or yield the right of way when approaching an intersection in case any vehicles coming from other directions lose control of their vehicles while trying to stop.
- If you have a cellular phone, take it with you. You can contact the Highway Patrol statewide by calling *HP (*47) or call law enforcement by dialing 911. But please don’t call 911 to check on road conditions. That line must be kept open for emergencies.
For real-time travel information at any time, call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel or follow NCDOT on Twitter at www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter. Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website. To access it, type “m.ncdot.gov” into the browser of your smartphone and bookmark it to save for future use.
You can also get emergency information from the N.C. Department of Public Safety at http://readync.org, and download the ReadyNC app to help you prepare for everything from road conditions to severe storms on a daily basis. It is available for free in the AppStore for iPhones and Google Play for Android devices.