Covered in snow: NCDOT thwarts first significant storm of season
By Kelly Donaldson
Printed in the Crossroads Chronicle 1/9/08
Just like on Christmas Day, the Cashiers area missed out on a white New Year's by just a
few hours.
The plateau received a dusting of snow late on Christmas day, but withstood a storm
packing a more powerful punch late on New Year's Day, as a little over an inch of snow
blanketed the area.
Travel problems seemed to be at a minimum, with no accidents reported to the
Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad during the storm.
Lori Jones, a maintenance engineer with the N.C. Division of Transportation, (NCDOT)
said her department began prepping roads for the storm around 7 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2008.
"We have five employees that work out of the Cashiers Maintenance Shed on a regular
basis," said Jones about covering the Cashiers/Glenville/Tuckasegee/Sapphire area.
"During snow and ice events, we typically work 12-hour shifts.
"This particular event, we had two employees working the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift and three
were working the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift," added Jones. "We have three dump trucks with
snow plows available."
Jones said one of the trucks broke down around noon on January 3, but the department
kept plugging along to make area roads safe for travel.
"We worked 24 hours a day until approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 3, 2008,"
said Jones of the total effort.
Outlining the substances that seem to work best on roads during winter storms, Jones
said the NCDOT uses different ones depending on the severity of the storm.
"Mixtures vary from event to event, due to temperatures, type of precipitation, etc.," said
Jones. "This particular event, we used a mixture of four parts salt (Sodium Chloride) to two
parts sand and one part chat (small gravel, aka 78M)."
A lot of people are unaware of the fact that in order for salt to properly melt ice,
temperature must be at a certain level. This storm was one that fell below that level.
"Salt only melts snow and ice when it is 20 degrees or higher," explained Jones.
"Obviously, this event was much colder than that, so we had to add in abrasives like sand
and chat for traction purposes. Once temperatures started rising, the salt could do its job."
As always, the NCDOT addressed problems on the main roadways of the Cashiers area,
being Highways 107 and 64. As with any storm, secondary paved roads and gravel roads
were the last to receive attention from the NCDOT.
"The North Carolina Department of Transportation has what is called a 'Bare Pavement
System,' said Jones. "This network of roads usually consists of primary roadways, such as
U.S. and N.C. routes and in some areas, higher volume secondary routes. In the Cashiers
area, there are two roads on the 'Bare Pavement System,' N.C. 107 and U.S. 64. These
two routes are addressed first during snow and ice events.
"After these primary routes are cleared, we then move on to the paved secondary routes
and then finally onto the gravel secondary routes," added Jones about the order in which
NCDOT addresses slick roads during winter storms.
According to Cashiers area Transportation Supervisor, Dennis Bryson, the Norton,
Yellow Mountain and Big Ridge areas were the worst hit during this event, with around 1
1/2 - 2" of snow and ice accumulating on the ground.
Jackson County Schools closed on Thursday, Jan. 3 due to the storm and had a delayed
opening on Friday, Jan. 4.