DOT ready with salt for icy fight on the roads

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina DOT is working to deal with icy roads, but the weather is still making travel tough.

DOT crews have been using a limited amount of brine on the roads because of the rain, but 335 tons of salt fill the warehouses at the maintenance yard in Castle Hayne. The DOT says that’s more than enough salt for this storm.

Law enforcement has reported several accidents on the bridges in and around Wilmington, as well as a multi-car wreck that shut down a stretch of MLK Parkway this evening and at least five crashes from the start of I-40 to the the interchange to I-140.

It’s all led emergency crews to ask drivers to stay home and off the roads.

If you have to travel, the DOT advise everyone to drive with extreme caution.

“The very best thing for you the motoring public and the department to get the job done is to give everybody space, give everybody room,” NCDOT Maintenance Engineer Gerard Taylor said.

The DOT says 144 employees will work through the night as the streets begin to freeze.