Officials with the state Department of Transportation say driving conditions across Northeast Georgia improved throughout the day Saturday, but that they are prepared for the possibility of a re-freeze during the overnight hours.
Georgia DOT spokeswoman Katie Strickland provided AccessWDUN with an update on area roadways late Saturday afternoon, and said the predominantly sunny conditions that prevailed after winter weather moved out of the area helped speed up the drying-out process.
"[Saturday] afternoon's sun...really made the conditions dry out a bit, which is good for us, but there is a threat of refreezing overnight," she said. ""Georgia DOT is still monitoring the conditions of our roadways in Northeast Georgia"
GDOT is focusing a portion of their effort on counties in the northern reaches of the state, where teams have been deployed to areas where ground and road temperatures have remained low throughout the day.
"We will be up there monitoring for black ice," Strickland continued. "We still have our trucks on the ground, we still have our teams working in shifts, so you'll see our GDOT trucks on the roadway."
Despite forecasters underestimating the amount of sleet and snow that would fall on north Georgia during the overnight hours between Friday and Saturday, Strickland said GDOT learned from their experience in previous years and prepared for the worst.
"Georgia DOT crews got ready early for this forecast, and we ended up getting more snow than we first predicted, so we were really prepared this time," she said. "We really got out and had pre-treated our roadways, and we didn't see the 'Snowmageddon' that everyone was fearing."
Strickland added that, by most accounts, drivers in the area listened to the warning of state officials and either stayed off the roadways entirely, or drove alertly when venturing out into the snow. She said the same advice should be followed until conditions have dried out entirely.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2017/12/614880/gdot-some-roadways-risk-re-freezing-during-overnight-hours