Road crews are still battling snow and ice on Atlanta-area interstate highways, but they hope to make substantial progress on them and move to secondary routes soon with the help of warmer temperatures and wind, state officials said Thursday morning.
“We understand that we may get a little above freezing today, but really what is going to help us the most is the fact that the sun is going to be out most of the day and also that we will have some wind blowing, which we hope will dry things up,” said Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“Between that and our crews working with the materials and the plows, we hope to make some really good progress today,” he said.
Meanwhile, state officials are urging motorists to drive in the right lanes of the interstates so crews can continue clearing the left lanes. And they are pleading with motorists to get any abandoned cars off the shoulders so those areas can be cleared. The concern: Snow on the shoulders could melt onto the interstates Thursday and then freeze overnight.
“Most of the right lanes on the interstates are in really good shape, but some of the left lanes still have a lot of icing in them,” McKinnon said. “So we are encouraging motorists to stay in those right lanes so that our crews could work freely in the left lanes and get them cleared.
“That is kind of our first priority right now. But as soon as we can get a little bit better handle on that in the next couple of hours we hope we are going to start moving more to the secondary state routes that have not gotten as much attention yet because we have been focusing on the interstates.”
McKinnon cited Clairmont Road and Northside Drive as secondary routes that will be targeted for work.
“We have been having some refreezing on some of the ramps and interchanges, so we have really had to work that this morning, too, which has taken up a lot of our time and attention right now,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency gave The Atlanta Journal-Constitution updates on several other weather-related issues Thursday:
Weather forecast for Thursday night: Low temperatures will be in the teens to the mid-20s, which could freeze melted snow and ice and cause troubles for road crews Friday.
Utilities: The region has been experiencing some limited power outages.
MARTA: Trains continue to run on limited schedules and some buses may start running Thursday.
Greyhound: Limited service resumed about noon Wednesday, and that service was continuing Thursday.
“Things are far better than they were yesterday, and we are very much looking forward to higher, above-freezing temperatures tomorrow,” GEMA spokeswoman Crystal Paulk-Buchanan said.
About the Author
The Latest
Featured
