Crews from the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) were out early Thursday morning applying liquid de-icer to Interstate 65 in Cullman County. Image courtesy of Matt Redmond.
HUNTSVILLE – Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) crews have prepared state highways and bridges to combat snow and ice conditions and will be actively working to keep highways open across the state during this winter weather event.
Salt-spreading operations are underway in Lauderdale and Limestone counties, and crews are on standby elsewhere in ALDOT’s 13-county North Region. Snow plows, graders and spreaders are ready to clear snow and deice roads as needed.
ALDOT crews on Thursday pretreated higher-volume state highways with salt brine and pretreating all bridges with Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). This morning, crews performed additional pretreatments in some areas, including a secondary treatment of the Interstate 65 Tennessee River Bridge with CMA. All lanes of I-65 and Interstate 565 and the outer lanes of Interstate 59 were pretreated, as well as the outer lanes of four-lane highways. Some two-lane highways were pretreated in higher-risk areas and as time allowed.
Currently, all highways remain open, but the public is urged to check www.algotraffic.com for alerts and road closure information, and to monitor their local news media for information about road conditions. Travel conditions should be considered hazardous in areas where there is precipitation, whether it is snow, rain or a wintry mix. In areas where there has been precipitation, icy conditions or snowfall accumulation, please avoid travel where adverse conditions are present until roadway and weather conditions improve.
ALDOT’s North Region includes Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Limestone, Madison, Cullman, Marshall, Jackson, Dekalb, Etowah and Cherokee counties.
MONTGOMERY – The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) encourages motorists to drive with extreme caution and to avoid roadways when weather conditions are prohibitive – particularly early in the morning as bridges may contain icy patches.
Motorists needing information on road conditions in Alabama should look to local news media and go to www.ALGOTraffic.com or download the ALGO Traffic app available online in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.
ALDOT is monitoring roadway and weather conditions across the state and pretreating roads and bridges which could be affected by the approaching winter storm. ALDOT appreciates the public’s patience and cooperation as it works to keep highways passable and as safe for travel as possible.
Appropriate driving speeds are determined by the road conditions, which on wet or icy roads should be slower than the posted speed limit. Motorists should slow down and move over if possible when approaching ALDOT and other highway maintenance personnel and emergency vehicles at work.
ALDOT provides up-to-the minute road updates to its ALGO Traffic website and app. With ALGO Traffic, users can select which details they want to see, including:
- Weather-related road alerts
- Traffic cameras
- Interstate Message Signs
- Incident information
- Road construction updates
- Highway traffic speeds
ALDOT asks motorists to use www.ALGOtraffic.com responsibly. Motorists should never text, tweet, or use a mobile device while operating a vehicle.
