A winter storm is predicted to impact South Carolina Tuesday and Wednesday, beginning along the coast Tuesday morning and advancing inland throughout the day. In preparation for this weather event, SC Department of Transportation (SCDOT) forces have begun pre-treating major routes throughout the state. SCDOT will, if necessary, move equipment and personnel throughout the state to areas where need is critical, officials said.
SCDOT Construction personnel will be utilized to assist Maintenance personnel with winter storm activities. Adjustments to the Department’s snow and ice plan will be made as needed depending on the forecast and storm’s impact. Crews will work around the clock on twelve hour rotating shifts until the roads are clear. They will begin shift work Tuesday morning.
The following values are the employees and equipment available, and the material already applied to the roadways.
On the previous report, the values for salt and salt brine were errantly reported as sand and calcium chloride. These values have been corrected below.
1,303 Maintenance employees actively involved in road operations
369 Tons of Salt (cumulative total)
35 Tons of Sand (cumulative total)
2635 Gallons of calcium chloride (cumulative total)
269,925 Gallons of salt brine (cumulative total)
291 Equipment in use
1,583 – Maintenance employees available
1133 – Equipment available
Engineering District 2 (Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Newberry and Saluda Counties) – District Two counties have mounted plows and loaded materials in preparation for the storm. They will complete pre-treating major routes by noon today.
Engineering District 3 (Greenville, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg Counties) – District Three counties have mounted plows and loaded materials in preparation for the storm. Major routes have been pretreated. District Three is coordinating with the DOM office and coastal counties to provide assistance when and if needed.
The Director of Maintenance office will coordinate with coastal and up state counties to determine where resources will be needed the most. Additional salt is scheduled to be moved today, Tuesday, January 28th, from the central salt dome, in Columbia, by a contract trucking company to the coastal counties in Engineering Districts Five and Six to supplement their current supplies. In anticipation of this winter storm event arrangements have been made to make it easier for the procurement of supplies necessary to support the snow and ice crews. Routes will be cleared in the following priorities:
1. Interstate routes
2. Primary routes (US and SC designated routes)
3. Secondary routes (Farm to market roads, etc.)
