FOREST PARK, Ga. — Georgia Department of Transportation trucks are loaded and ready to go.
Crews Friday at the GDOT salt barn in Forest Park are prepared to hit the roads and coat the pavement with brine, Channel 2’s Audrey Washington learned.
They will be working on getting ahead of the ice coming with the winter storm moving in this weekend.
Large brine tanks are prepared to supply the trucks as crews head out to treat the roads. The trucks hold about 7,000 gallons and will treat major interstate lanes.
In all, GDOT has 2 million gallons of brine, around 76,000 tons of salt, 46,000 tons of gravel and a little under 2,000 employees on call to cover 49,000 lane miles on interstates and state routes.
But in order to get them all covered with brine, GDOT is urging people to stay off the roads.
They say they need to get that pretreatment down, and they don’t need drivers getting in the way.
They explained their strategy with rain also expected to move through the area.
“With the saltwater solution that we have, the more rain the more diluted it will become,” said Natalie Dale with GDOT. “That’s why we want to get down as many layers as possible to really increase how much is on the road, so we have fighting chance against the ice.”
Crews will work 12-hour shifts on and 12-hour shifts off beginning at midnight.
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