Georgia

Brine trucks begin to treat roads as frigid air approaches North Georgia

By Tom Regan, WSB-TV
By Tom Regan, WSB-TV

GORDON COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia Department of Transportation brine trucks are out pre-treating roads as the state prepares for dangerously cold temperatures to move in.

The state says the brine will help prevent roads and bridges from freezing as temperatures begin to drop Thursday night.

“Behind me is our brine treatment plant where we are going to producing more than 40,000 gallons of brine to put out on the roads here in thousands,” said GDOT spokesman Joe Shulman.

Over the next 12 hours or so, the trucks will spray brine on 1,800 miles of road surface in northwest Georgia.

The large brine trucks may seem a little out of place when the temperature is a mild 55 degrees, but GDOT said it’s always better to be ahead of the game with frigid temperature and rain, just around the corner.

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“We have learned in Georgia it’s never too early to get started prepping for winter weather. So if we get started now, we will be ready for this,” Shulman said.

GDOT said they haven’t forgotten the paralyzing snow and ice storm that blew through metro Atlanta in 2014.

While the polar plunge will be a minor event compared to that, they want to do everything possible to prevent weather related crashes.

“We will be treating all our state highways through this area. We have a lot to get to way up in northwest Georgia. Those are the areas that could get a snowfall event, even if it’s just a little bit. It’s going to be very told. They’ll have some rain, so we will hit those spots as well,” Shulman said.

GDOT officials told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that they’re going to have about 26 trucks and other vehicles laying brine over the next few days.

They’ve got a lot of road to cover, so they’ll be working 12 hour shifts.

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