Roads, bridges remain impassable
Published 11:07 am Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Road conditions remain hazardous throughout Chilton County on Wednesday with all of the roads still deemed impassable.
“We are asking everyone to stay off the roads,” Chilton County Engineer Tony Wearren said Wednesday morning. “The temperatures will not get above freezing during the day today and if you don’t have to get out then you need to stay put.”
Wearren said all roads throughout the county are still slick with ice and snow from Tuesday’s winter storm, and crews are only responding to emergency situations.
“Right now we have four or five trucks of sand and gravel but we are only responding to emergency situations as needed by fire and rescue,” Wearren said. “Since the temperatures will not get above freezing today and we are going to have another hard freeze tonight, we are only responding to emergency situations.”
Wearren said his crews are treating the roads with a mixture of sand and gravel but due to the severity of ice throughout the county his crews struggled making it everywhere.
“We had dump trucks sliding all over the place so it made it difficult for us to go out and treat some of the places,” Wearren said. “Everywhere from Jemison to Verbena was a mess.”
Crews will evaluate the roads Wednesday evening to determine accessibility for motorists but Wearren said the ice will more than likely still be around by mid-morning Thursday.
“We are going to have to wait and see how the rest of the day shapes up but right now it is looking like the best chance for everything melting would be late morning on Thursday,” Wearren said. “It is all based on if the temperature warms up because right now the ice isn’t going anywhere.”
Wearren said the most dangerous places throughout the county right now are bridges that don’t have warm ground underneath to keep them from freezing.
“The roads aren’t closed, they are deemed impassable but they are slick,” Wearren said. “We are trying to keep our materials for emergency situations so unless you absolutely have to get out and drive, we are asking everyone to stay off of the roads right now.”
Chilton County E-911 posted on their Twitter page Wednesday morning that legally for a road to be “closed” barricades are required and that is “impossible to accomplish.”