Transportation authorities are preparing North Carolina’s roadways for slick conditions as weather forecasts show snow headed for the Raleigh-Durham for the first time in over 1,000 days.
Highway Division 5 of the North Carolina Department of Transportation began a large-scale salt brining operation on Wednesday morning and will continue preparations through Friday when the storm is predicted to move into the area. While they were able to stay out of rush hour traffic on Wednesday morning, authorities warned during a press conference that they would be out in evening traffic on Wednesday as they try to get as much coverage in advance of the storm.
“This is a little different event; we’re out 72 hours before anticipated snow, but with the cold temperatures, it really reduces our window of where we can actually take and apply brine,” explained Doug McNeal, division maintenance engineer for NCDOT’s Division 5. “We’re looking for mid-20s and sunny as a good start for us… Tomorrow and the next day, we’ll be focusing more on the interstate system where we have the higher speeds and the higher volumes.”…