Budget Burning as Crews Fight Off Snow, Ice
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CHARLOTTE, NC — The North Carolina Department of Transportation is working to get ahead of Wednesday’s storm.
Nearly 100 salt and brine trucks will hit the roads throughout the day.
Tuesday, wrecked cars littered tow yards after the morning snow.
Earl Davis plans to pull even more out this week.
“I told my wife today that I might be home Thursday night,” said Davis.
More than 140 wrecks happened in Charlotte Tuesday from 5:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Two CMPD officers were injured while working an accident on I-485 near Beatties Ford Road when another driver hit their cruiser.
“Our job is dangerous,” said Davis. “The thing that runs through my head is getting home to the kids.”
Davis’ crew towed cars on that scene.
Across the state: nearly 2,000 more crash sites, double the number on a dry day.
In an effort to prevent the weather-related crashes, the state has a $40 million budget to clear the snow, brine the roads and salt the roads. It’s already spent $22.2 million on these latest storms.
NC DOT was $30 million over budget last year, but crews couldn’t risk leaving the roads dangerous.
“We’re going to continue to clear the roads, hit them as hard as we can with our crews, with our materials,” said Spokesperson Jordan-Ashley Walker. “We’re not going to scale back our efforts.”
Charlotte DOT has spent more than $126,000 on snow removal materials. That comes out of the $30 million CDOT’s maintenance budget.
However, spokespeople admit, there’s only so much salt can do as black ice builds.
“All the sudden you see them spinning, hitting the guard rail,” said Davis.
His worry this week is getting hit while helping.
By law, you have to move over a lane if you see tow truck on the side of the road. If you can’t move over, you have to slow down.
