TRIANGLE: On Wednesday morning, as residents of the Triangle braced for a crippling winter storm, the North Carolina Department of Transportation was prepared to ensure that roadways stay as safe and clear as possible.

“We expect to have plenty of salt on hand for this storm,” said Brad Wall, Division Maintenance Engineer with the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation, Division 7.

Wall said the department started spreading a brine solution on Monday, in preparation for the big storm. He estimated that around 140,000 gallons of brine was spread over a five-county area.

“We did get snow flurries on Monday,” said Wall. “It was enough that the pavement got too wet to continue to brine, so we stopped, and finished that work [Tuesday].”

Then the DOT began gearing up for Wednesday’s snowfall.

“We loaded DOT trucks with salt [Tuesday],” said Wall. “And we’re in the process of loading our contractors’ trucks this morning with salt.”

During this time of the year, the NCDOT keeps its salt supply topped out.

“If we use a salt quantity in one event, then we order back that amount of salt, so that we’re prepared for the next,” Wall explained.

He said his division is at near-capacity in its salt supply, which is around17,000 tons.

The NCDOT also runs Incident Management Assistance Patrol, or IMAP, which assists stranded motorists, clears roadways and provides traffic control whenever needed.

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