Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) crews worked around the clock to keep roads safe and passable during Winter Storm Cora. The storm brought freezing rain, sleet, and snow to parts of the state, creating hazardous driving conditions.
ALDOT’s Response
Pretreatment: Crews pre-treated roads with brine to help prevent ice formation. Salt brine is merely a combination of rock salt and water. Once dry, it lowers the freezing point of the roadway surface and it is intended to slow/delay freezing.
Roadway pretreatments depend on forecasted area impacts, with major routes prioritized. All bridges get first priority along with Interstate roadways. After that, priorities go to higher traffic US routes and elevated areas.
Bridges and overpasses have open air beneath them, which allows cold air to be in direct contact with the bottom of the structure, thus dropping the surface temperatures more quickly on the bridge. Roadways usually take longer to freeze since they have no open space underneath them and the soil underneath can help to insulate the roadway.
Snow and Ice Removal: Plows and de-icing trucks were deployed to clear roads of snow and ice.
Public Information: ALDOT provided regular updates on road conditions through ALDOTNews, social media and media outlets.
To stay up to date for future events, follow ALDOT on Facebook and regional operation accounts on X for more local information:
- ALDOT North Region (Cherokee, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, and Morgan counties)
- ALDOT West Central Region (Bibb, Chilton, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa, Walker, and Winston counties)
- ALDOT East Central Region (Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Jefferson, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, and Tallapoosa counties)
- ALDOT Southeast Region (Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, Elmore, Henry, Houston, Geneva, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Pike, and Russell counties)
- ALDOT Southwest Region (Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Washington, and Wilcox counties)
