TDOT continues to salt road as snow falls

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — With the snowy weather and cold temperatures sweeping across the area, and it’s causing quite a concern for drivers.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation has spent several days working hard, salting the roads with a salt brine mixture.

When temperatures get too cold, they add calcium chloride to add extra heat.

Over the last three days, workers have covered 10,000 lane miles of state routes with this mixture. TDOT has used a 500 personnel workforce to achieve this goal.

If the roads get too rough Thursday night, they do have crews on standby to plow the roads.

“We have, you know, around 179 trucks with salt, a little more than 130 salt brine tanks that we can get out and use. And on-hand we have around 25 tons of salt,” said Nichole Lawrence, the TDOT Community Relations Officer.

If you’re going out in these adverse road conditions, make sure you have a fully charged phone, blankets, and appropriate clothes for the weather.

Travelers on the interstate shared their words for those thinking about trekking out into snow.

“Just slow down. You’ll get to where you’re going. There’s no reason to, you know, try to get there five minutes faster and wind up in a ditch,” said Marshall Cowan, who is traveling along the interstate.

Officials say if you don’t have to be on the roads, it’s best to stay inside.

And we drove around so you don’t have to! Check out a timelapse of the Hub City covered in snow on Thursday:

Find more local news here.