G-DOT Sending in Extra Crews for Tonight’s Expected Big Snow

And because the roads are expected to be snow covered quickly, the Georgia Department of Transportation has already been canvassing the roads in North and Northeast Georgia, preparing for the snow.

GDOT spokesperson Teri Pope said crews will be in early today to get a jump on monitoring road conditions .

“We do have crews out scouting but we will call crews in as soon as precipitation starts,” Pope said. “We’re hoping for a new event rather than ice event. Snow is a lot easier to remove rather than trying to scrape ice off the roadway.”

The first snow falls will begin in the Metro Atlanta area this afternoon and then slowly move up to North and Northeast Georgia by this evening.

Pope said crews will be out all night spreading a salt mixture to keep the roads passable.

“Our priority is to work on Interstates and multi-lane state routes first because they carry the most people,” she said. “Then we will go down to the two-lane state routes and start working on them.”

At midnight, G-DOT will mobilize 13 tanker trucks to apply brine to major highways.  G-DOT has already moved 80 additional staffers into North Georgia from other parts of the state.

And as always both law enforcement and GDOT crews are asking people to stay home and off the roads this evening and overnight tonight so that their trucks and emergency vehicles can be out clearing the roads and helping those in need.

If you must get out, especially Thursday morning, Pope advises motorists to check in with the G-DOT 511 service first.

“They can use the 511 app or go to Facebook or Twitter to get road information,” she said. “Also, you can use those to let us know how road conditions in your are. You can also call 511 to report road conditions or snow fall and icing as well.”

In addition to extra G-DOT crews, the State Patrol will deploy 174 troopers for rapid response to accidents, and will mandate that all tractor trailers pull in to weigh stations to assure that trucks have the proper equipment for travel in snow/ice conditions.

Finally, the Department of Natural Resources will place 15 strike teams across the 50 counties to aid in storm response and debris removal.