‘We will stay on 12-hour shifts:’ NDOT prepares for another round of snow, ice on the roads
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure (NDOT) told News 2 they are fully prepared for Thursday’s anticipated wintry mix.
“We have always trained and prepared for these worst-case scenarios even though we don’t get them very often,” said Phillip Jones, assistant director of NDOT.
According to Jones, NDOT has enough salt to cover the city’s roadways again. They started with 10,000 tons of salt and have only used about 2,000 tons in the last four days. NDOT submitted a request for more salt, but told News 2 they feel confident they have enough to manage this next storm.
TN Winter Storm: Wintry mix expected across Middle Tennessee with ice accumulation likely
The plan for Thursday is to follow the same procedure as with Sunday and Monday’s winter storms. NDOT will start with the primary roads, like Briley Parkway and Donelson Pike, before moving on to the side roads that feed into the main roadways.
The challenge over these couple of days has been the freeze-and-thaw cycle from the bitterly cold temperatures.
“Even the roads that we’ve got clear where we have pushed snow up on the side, as things melt the water comes back across the road,” Jones said. “We will have issues of freezing black ice, so we will be going back over those routes and salting for black ice.”
Jones told News 2 that after these winter storms, NDOT will face another issue – road repairs.
“We have people out that are riding these routes behind these men, so they are documenting now any of the potholes to start work orders as soon as the weather breaks,” Jones said.
He also said they will have five or six patch trucks ready to repair potholes, but the plan for Thursday is simple: salt and plow all roads repeatedly.
Check out the News 2 Severe Weather Resources Guide
“Right now, just with anticipation on the forecast, we will stay on 12-hour shifts through to see what happens tomorrow night,” Jones said. “Looks like it could come in a little bit of rain, sleet on the front end, and turn to snow, so we will be here with trucks on route prepared to go back to primaries if necessary.”
Jones expects the roads to be cleared by Thursday morning, just before the next round of winter weather.
You can call 311 or visit NDOT’s website to request a road get salted and plowed.
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