By Katelin Carroll
Staff Reporter 

Slippery roads cause more than three hours of traffic block

 

January 14, 2021

This photo was taken by Kristin Gomez who reported that it took 3.5 hours to get home from Columbia

An unexpected and wet snow fell fast, and covered everything quickly on Thursday afternoon, January 7th, leaving salt and brine trucks struggling to keep up.

Many were stuck on Highway 412 East, just past the Maury County line, after a Maury County TDOT truck and other vehicles slipped off the road and had trouble getting back on it.

Some reported being stuck on the hill for over three hours with the line backing up nearly all the way to Hampshire.

Kim Smotherman, Operation Tech Senior for TDOT in Lewis County, said Lewis County's salt and brine trucks were struggling to keep up with the unexpected snowfall.

"A lot of people think that you can hit the roads once with salt, and the snow will melt right away, but that's not how it works," said Smotherman.

The Nashville TDOT headquarters makes the call on when to start salting, and whether to use salt or brine -- or in this case, both. The brine takes hours to make and our local TDOT department was completely out with three people on the clock to make it. Staff members were also tasked with changing the equipment on the trucks.

V-beds are what the TDOT trucks use to spread salt on the roads, but in order to distribute brine, the trucks need to have a brine tank attached. Smotherman reported that it takes about two hours to just change one, and there were three trucks that had to alternate between salt and brine.

"I was proud of my team," said Smotherman, "They were able to make 50,000 gallons of brine and eventually get our roads cleared."

Sophia Hinson enjoying the snowfall

Our local TDOT workers typically get about 37 hours of work per week, but when it snows as it has this week, Smotherman said they can get up to 80 hours.

"While everyone's all cozy and warm and asleep in their houses, we're out on the roads for as long as there is visible precipitation," said Smotherman.

Lewis County Schools closed on Friday due to the quick-falling snow that stayed around through the night.

True to the old saying, "if the snow lays for three days, there's another one coming soon behind it," another snow fell over the weekend, closing schools Monday and Tuesday.

While parents may have been wondering what to do, there were definitely some happy little snow bunnies, making snow angels, snowmen and having snowball fights without a care in the world.

 

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