AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation says it is making early preparations for the possibility of snow this weekend, but storms across the United States have made it harder to get one key supply.
Across several counties in the foothills and mountains, crews are restocking their salt supplies over the next 48 hours. Channel 9’s Dave Faherty was in Newland on Tuesday as one truck after another rolled into the NCDOT yard, bringing 1,000 tons of salt to Avery County.
The department says it has enough supplies of salt statewide, but it has been challenging to refill orders this winter because of the storms in other parts of the country.
[ WHAT TO KNOW >> Carolinas brace for potential winter storm this weekend ]
In Avery County alone, they go through 250-300 tons of salt every storm. Just last week, we saw crews putting down a saltwater brine mixture in neighboring Caldwell County.
We got a chance to talk with one engineer in Avery County about maintaining an adequate salt supply this winter.
“The salt shipment is very important. We were starting to get low from all we’ve had,” said Danny Steelman with NCDOT. “There are so many different places that are using salt right now, especially up north. It’s getting kind of hard to get here.”
NCDOT says it is also already sharpening chainsaws to clear fallen wood in the High Country. We expect to see more preparations in some of the counties in the foothills as we get closer to the weekend.
(VIDEO: Brine can damage bridges, causing need for costly repairs)
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