GDOT activates winter weather plan as Georgia braces for incoming storm

GDOT prepares for winter travel

The Georgia Department of Transportation is on alert awaiting a winter storm which could threaten the Peach State's busy highways and interstates. How they are battling back early.

ATLANTA - With a winter storm watch in effect, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has activated its winter weather response plan, aiming to keep roads safe and traffic moving as freezing conditions approach.

Crews will begin treating roads in north Georgia, Wednesday night, focusing on key highways, bridges, and interstates. Brine tankers, essential in preventing ice formation, are already prepped at GDOT’s Forest Park maintenance facility and will start spreading the solution in the metro area at midnight.

THE LATEST ON THIS WINTER STORM

"From metro north, it’s going to be a mixed bag of what we get," said Natalie Dale, GDOT spokesperson. "It could be one to three inches of snow. In the metro area, we could be dealing with more icy precipitation, so really the first step for us is getting that brine down to keep us from getting ice on the roads. That’s going to help us get plowable conditions if we do have several inches of snow."

GDOT plans to deploy up to 50 brine tankers across the state, reallocating them as needed. Crews from South Georgia have been brought in to reinforce the teams treating roads in northern regions. Workers will operate on 12-hour shifts to ensure continuous coverage.

"To sort of assist the crews up here, to add to the manpower that we have in treating the roads, [we’re] making sure we have people for all of the shifts," Dale said.

Joe Schulman, another GDOT spokesperson, highlighted the around-the-clock efforts. "Tonight, all the way through until about midnight Thursday night, then we will switch over depending on how the weather is Friday, getting out and making sure the roads are staying clear."

As the storm approaches, GDOT remains vigilant. "Sort of watching this system to see what the impact we are expecting is going to be, and that dictates how we use our crews and what we use on the roads," Dale explained.

Lessons from 2014’s ‘Snowmageddon’

This month marks the 10th anniversary of Atlanta’s infamous "Snowmageddon," when a mere 2.5 inches of snow crippled the metro area. Slush quickly turned to ice, stranding drivers on interstates and forcing some children to spend the night at schools. The event spurred significant changes in how Georgia approaches winter weather.

Following the 2014 storm, then-Gov. Nathan Deal established the Winter Weather Task Force. Since then, GDOT has significantly increased its brine production capacity, now able to make 1.8 million gallons of the solution—up from just 5,000 gallons a decade ago. The agency can produce 50,000 gallons of brine per hour and uses advanced technology to identify priority areas for treatment.

Additionally, GDOT has bolstered its snow removal fleet, now equipped with 393 dump trucks and 61 Ford F-150 pickups outfitted with plows and spreaders.

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