ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. — Crews in Roane County were working overnight Thursday into Friday to try and keep some of the county's busiest roads from freezing over. With temperatures plummeting and freezing rain in the forecast, they faced a challenge.
"Ice is the worst," said Dennis Ferguson, Roane County's Road Superintendent. "That ice, there's nothing you can do. I mean, that's what we've been really working on, is ice."
He said after 12 years of leading the county's road department, the recent winter storm was one of his biggest challenges yet. It brought several inches of snow, frigid temperatures and dangerous driving conditions.
He also said the usual mix of salt and brine to treat roads isn't enough to withstand the cold. He said salt is lying on top of the ice frozen over the asphalt.
He also said East Tennessee does not usually see storms like the recent wave of winter weather. A mixture of salt and small rocks is being used in colder areas of the county to try and prevent conditions from worsening.
"That salt is just not really doing what it needs to do," he said. "We've got eight-and-a-half, nine inches of snow. Plus, the ground is frozen. It's just compacting to the ice."
Adding to the county's difficulty in treating the roads are its hills. The rural county features several steep and curving hills, making treatment difficult for crews and making it even more dangerous to navigate Roane County.
There are 14 crews covering 650 miles — around 45 miles per crew.
"They all have routes and, each and every truck — they know when they come in, they already know where they're gonna go," said Ferguson.
Ferguson said the county had already used 200 tons of salt and 50,000 gallons of brine, and yet there are no clear roads. He hopes this mixture can break the icy conditions.