By HANA KIM
6 News Reporter
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - As soon as snow started falling Monday, the Tennessee Department of Transportation started moving.
"We called in our folks, all 450 folks. All trucks were active," said TDOT Regional Director Steve Borden.
He oversees 24 counties in East Tennessee. The goal is to treat roads if necessary well in advance of incoming snow.
However, Borden said on Monday none of the routes were pretreated because the initial weather forecast made it seem unnecessary.
He says the weather took them by surprise. "It came in earlier than we were expecting. Basically the weather reports we were getting were showing it a little bit later."
Borden says he always errs on the side of caution, but with unexpected weather changes sometimes the key is to do the best with the cards they are dealt.
"Yesterday was also a holiday so that added another dynamic so our people were not already at work. We had to bring them in off of a holiday weekend," Borden said.
Once mobilized, TDOT crews worked around the clock pouring salt and liquid calcium to melt the ice faster.
"They started hitting up the interstates first, any of the bad spots on the interstate and migrated out to state routes," Borden explained.
Across 24 counties, there are 29 large salt bins. TDOT started the winter season with 60,537 tons of salt.
"We are in good shape. Our salt bins are full. We are fully stocked with our chemicals, with our liquid calcium," Borden said.
