Crews out treating roadways
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on January 30, 2014 1:46 PM
Goldsboro residents woke up to icy roads this morning as temperatures in the single digits kept the salt on the roads from melting the ice, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials said.
NCDOT workers plowed primary routes such as U.S. 70 and I-795 all night, but it could be late afternoon or Friday before Ash Street and Berkeley Boulevard see another plow, NCDOT County Maintenance Supervisor Luther Thompson said.
"People just have to be aware of (the ice)," Thompson said. "We'll get everybody we can. Right now they just need to be patient."
NCDOT plows and salt trucks were working through the night to keep the main highways clear for travel and will continue to work down the line throughout the day.
"It's going well," Thompson said. "I thought we made pretty good headway yesterday. We got most of the four-lanes."
In Wayne County alone, NCDOT has 36 pieces of equipment including trucks, plows and graders working, with additional resources sent from Boone. Already, officials said, more than 400 tons of salt have been spread over interstates and primary roads.
This morning, plow trucks were split between major highways and four-lane roads in Goldsboro, such as Wayne Memorial Drive and New Hope Road, with Berkeley Boulevard and Ash Street further down the list, Thompson said.
"Hopefully if the sun comes out we may be able to get to the secondary roads today," he said. "It may be tomorrow; it may be late this afternoon."
Within the city of Goldsboro, 10 vehicle wrecks were reported, including a spin out at the intersection of U.S. Highway 70 and North Spence Avenue. The driver, Terrell Maurice Powell, 28, of Benson, thought the road had cleared and accelerated to about 45 to 50 miles per hour when he lost control, according to police reports.
His vehicle spun around and hit a guard rail twice before coming to rest in the median.
Benson was cited for exceeding a safe speed.
Goldsboro Public Works employees stopped plowing at 5 p.m. Wednesday before picking it up again at 6:30 this morning, Director Jose Martinez said.
"They plowed all day and went all Tuesday night, so they stopped at 5 p.m. last night," he said.
Public Works superintendents were out patrolling areas this morning, ready to redirect plows and salt trucks to "hot spots" on city streets that needed extra attention.
Last night, city workers salted the overpasses on Elm Street over Stoney Creek and on Grantham Street, as well the major overpasses to make sure they were clear.
NCDOT workers salted U.S. 70 overpasses and Wayne Memorial Drive overpasses.
Martinez said Public Works employees will work until 5 p.m. and then move into a reactive state, moving out to handle "hot spots" as they are needed on Friday.
Sanitation and cemetery workers with Public Works were pulled off of their duties today and will resume work Friday after the sun comes up to avoid black ice, Martinez said.
Today's route will be serviced on Saturday.
All city offices are closed to the public today. Also closed today are county offices, county schools, private schools and the community college.
In addition to the road crews out today, personnel from Duke Energy were hard at work this morning trying to restore power to more than 600 homes in Nahunta and around Goldsboro. Spokeswoman Catherine Butler said the company was hoping to have power restored by about 11 a.m. today.