Atlanta battles icy streets with handful of sand trucks

Atlanta's Public Works Department struggled Friday to sand hundreds of miles of icy  roads with six trucks, using a seventh for "clean up" at watermain breaks.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is trying to maintain state highways  -- like Peachtree Street, Northside Drive and Piedmont Avenue -- while Atlanta is dispatching crews to the other 150 miles of roads, according to the city's operations center.

The state has  2,300 employees on call and more than 700  pieces of equipment available. Atlanta's Public Works Department has four "sand" trucks -- the other four in the fleet have "equipment issues" --  two flatbed trucks  plus pickups "as needed to spread sand and salt," said spokeswoman Valerie Bell-Smith.

Friday afternoon, the city had been divided into four quadrants and workers had been dispatched to survey key streets.

Bell-Smith said city crews are getting to problem spots as quickly as they can. The crews  have been working almost nonstop for three days, since warnings of the weather were first raised.

Reese McCranie, spokesman for Mayor Kasim Reed, said "each [city] department is compiling a list of what they have done proactively and retroactively. Public works has salted and de-iced," focusing on major roads and bridges.

"They will continue to do that throughout the night," he said.

Some metro area police departments are responding to more than twice the number of traffic accidents as drivers continue try to negotiate icy roads.

Though most government offices, schools and some businesses are closed, thousands still tried to navigate slippery roads to get to work Friday morning. And 18,000 basketball fans are expected downtown Friday night for a Hawks game at Philips Arena.

So Atlanta Police Department spokesman Otis Redmond said, "APD is advising all motorists that if you have to travel on the roadways please use extreme caution and be alert of any and all traffic hazards to include black ice."

Atlanta police received 229 calls about wrecks between 5 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. Friday. Officers ordinarily average less than 115 accident calls in a day.  Redmond said APD is "responding to all calls for service for auto accidents."

In DeKalb County, police worked 120 wrecks between midnight and 11 a.m. Friday; 18 of them with injuries.

"That's a good bit more than normal," said police spokesman Jason Gagnon.

The Georgia Regional Transportation Agency, which buses commuters from surrounding counties into Atlanta, e-mailed passengers an apology for not being able to provide the usual service Friday morning.

“We were able to operate all routes, but unfortunately downtown streets were impassable in some areas, and we could serve only the Civic Center MARTA Station,” the e-mail said. “If the downtown streets do not improve, Xpress may have to depart only from the Civic Center MARTA Station this afternoon.”

Mid Friday afternoon the decision was made; the streets were too icy.

"Icy conditions are still prevalent throughout Downtown and Midtown streets this afternoon. Therefore, all Xpress routes -- Downtown and Midtown -- will board ONLY at the Civic Center MARTA Station this afternoon," the e-mail said, adding that commuters arriving to the buses via train would not have to pay the fee.