Georgia DOT prepared to treat roads

ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Transportation said it's prepared to pretreat metro Atlanta roads, highways and interstates, but it must wait for the correct conditions before it can do that.
 
The forecasts call for periods of rain followed by a wintry mix. Department spokesperson Natalie Dale said it won't do any good to pretreat roads too soon.
 
"We can't pretreat it in a way that it will be wasted or ineffective," said Dale.  "Rain will wash away brine.  Rain will come in and wash away salt and rock."
 
Dale said GDOT brought in more than 100 additional people from its South Georgia facilities to help with the expected winter weather.  She said crews also restocked their supplies of rock and salt, going as far as Charleston, South Carolina to load up more salt.
 
"We are already in the planning mode," said Dale.  "We have been in the planning mode since yesterday. The governor made it clear that we are all to get ahead of this storm and we are ready."
 
Dale said GDOT is also coordinating with the Department of Natural Resources to bring in its personnel if needed.
 
"Timing is really the key with the pretreatment," said Dale.
 
Dale also asked people not to drive during the bad weather to make it easier for GDOT crews to clear the roads.

WSBTV