– Please avoid travel today in western and central North Carolina unless absolutely necessary because many roads west of Interstate 95 remain blanketed by snow and ice.
That was the message state officials reiterated Monday after the year’s first big winter storm swept across North Carolina over the weekend.
“Our crews are making progress clearing roads across the state today,” said State Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson. “Conditions are varied across the state, and we encourage people to continue to avoid travel where snow and ice are still on the roads. With low temperatures Monday night, we’re likely to see moisture on the roads refreeze overnight.”
More than 2,400 N.C. Department of Transportation employees and contractors have been responding with trucks equipped with plows and salt spreaders to clear roads from the mountains to the coastal plains, with the hardest hit areas in the mountains and central Piedmont. Areas east of Interstate 95 were warned to stay alert for potential icy spots.
Since snow began falling Saturday, crews have spread more than 1 million gallons of brine and 58,000 tons of salt. Crews have also been out since Sunday plowing snow and ice from roads and have been responding to calls to cut and remove trees from roads or help utility crews address trees that took down power lines. The agency had many calls to cut and remove downed trees in mountain counties, including Henderson and Polk counties.
NCDOT employees and contractors are making progress to
clear interstates and primary roads such as U.S. and N.C. highways first, followed by the most heavily traveled secondary roads.
The impacts from this winter storm have been widespread with roads impacted in the mountains, Piedmont and even the coastal plains. NCDOT, which has staff in 14 highway divisions covering every corner of North Carolina, uses many trucks and equipment to do its work. By late Monday morning, agency crews were using about 1,300 trucks and 224 graders to clear roads. NCDOT’s contract resources were using 983 trucks to help plow snow and ice and spread salt and sand.
As with many storms, NCDOT crews in areas with fewer impacts are being deployed to assist those in harder hit areas. Much of eastern North Carolina fared pretty well, with many roads east of Interstate 95 clear. As such, employees from the Fayetteville and Wilmington areas were deployed to the Raleigh area today to assist crews with snow clearing operations.
Before the winter storm arrived, NCDOT and its contractors spread nearly 4 million gallons of brine on roads. The saltwater solution helps prevent snow and ice from bonding with the road surface.
As road conditions improve, people should visit
DriveNC.gov or follow
NCDOT on social media for travel updates.
Other Travel and Driving Services Impacted
Weather conditions impacted several of NCDOT’s other services.
Most of the agency’s passenger rail service, NC By Train, was canceled Sunday out of an abundance of caution, and NCDOT is working with Amtrak on resuming service today. Folks can check Amtrak.com for updates.
Five of NCDOT’s seven coastal ferry routes were suspended Saturday due to the high winds and cold temperatures. Services resumed on all but one route Sunday. Today, five of the seven routes are operating as normal, with the Cedar Island-Ocracoke and Swan Quarter-Ocracoke routes operating on a limited schedule due to non-storm related issues.
By 2 p.m. Monday, the Division of Motor Vehicles reported 62 driver license offices were closed, including offices in Ahoskie, Asheboro, Boone, Brevard, Cary and Durham. Offices in 17 places were not offering road tests today, including offices in Aberdeen, Asheville, Burnsville, Franklin, Lumberton and Troy. Sixty-two license plate agencies are closed.
NCDOT’s Integrated Mobility Division, which supports public transit agencies, is working with several of the agencies that were forced to close or delay operations due to the storm. Staff at NCDOT will ensure the transit agencies have the resources they need as they are able to resume operations.
NCDOT’s Aviation Division is also monitoring the storm’s impact at our statewide airports and supporting operating airport/fuel status requests from the State Emergency Operations Center.