GREENSBORO – North Carolina Department of Transportation Division Maintenance Engineer Brad Wall says preparation for this winter weather began Monday night into Tuesday morning.

“We put salt brine out on the interstates, (loaded the trucks with salt, and topped off the fuel tanks),” Wall says. “When we get the fallen precipitation, we’ll get them out on the routes, and they’ll begin to address the storm.”

He says the primary roads were also treated with salt brine; that process concluded Tuesday before noon.

Wall is in the NC DOT’s Division 7, which services Alamance, Guildord, Rockingham, and Caswell counties along with Orange. He says Orange will likely be the hardest hit of his division.

“With the temperatures, we expect it to start sticking immediately,” Wall says. “So as soon as we get some accumulation on the pavement, then we’ll start putting out salt.”

He says the trucks have been affixed with plows in addition to filling them with salt and topping off the fuel.

“We being with the routes that carry the most traffic,” Wall says. “We start with our interstates as well as our major primaries.”

You might get the urge to follow closely behind a truck that’s plowing snow to get the clearest route, but Wall says it’s safest for you to give the truck some room to work.

“The trucks will be putting out salt, most likely,” Wall says. “I would stay several car-lengths back—anywhere from 300 to 500 feet back.”