KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Knox County Engineering & Public Works is starting to prepare ahead of possible winter weather expected this week and next.
On-call crews remain ready in each service district to begin treating roadways as needed.
Knox County has around 4,000 tons of road salt and 5,000 gallons of calcium chloride in storage and ready to use.
The county also has 30,000 gallons of salt brine, a salt and water mixture that is applied to roadways to stop snow from sticking to the pavement.
The brine system allows Knox County’s Highway Department to pre-treat 1,392 lane miles of primary and secondary roads, and other known trouble spots, ahead of a winter storm.
The Highway Department can equip up to 14 trucks with brine spreaders, which can be switched out with equipment to spread granular road salt.
Knox County has 17 snowplows that can be attached to dump trucks as needed. The county also has 12 four-wheel-drive trucks that can be equipped with smaller snowplows for use on more narrow roads.
Officials encourage residents to stay off the roads whenever possible until crews have cleared the snow.
Workers will start clearing main thoroughfares and known problem areas first before moving on to complaints and secondary roads.
