Salt Trucks Roll Out To Cover Bibb County Streets

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Macon-Bibb County Public Works Department is working around the clock to make sure drivers can travel on roads and bridges.

Bulldozers poured salt mixed with pea gravel into dump trucks in preparation for covering icy roads.

Macon-Bibb County Public Works Chief Deputy Superintendent, Marvin Land says his department is working around the clock to insure the roads are safe for travel. Work crews are scheduled to put salt mixture on roadways every hour.

“We have crews out monitoring the area county wide for icing,” says Land. “Be careful, out on the streets. We’re monitoring even after we salt the bridges and we’ll hit them as much as we need to.”

Steve Pettis, Asst. Director of Public Works, Steve Pettis says they will have six bridge routes, each one will have 10 to 12 bridges on it.

“We started salting bridges around 3 p.m., and made a complete round in two and half hours,” says Pettis. “We started a second round at 7:30 p.m. County-wide we are responsible for approximately 70 bridges throughout Bibb County.”

Work crews are working in 12 hour shifts. The first crew started at 7 a.m., Tuesday. Macon-Bibb County Public Works Deputy Superintendent, Tim Wilder says the salt and gravel mixture is efficient.

“The salt breaks down the ice a lot quicker and the pea gravel that we have mixed with it helps break the ice up versus sand,” says Wilder.

Each of the five trucks that began pouring the salt mixture Tuesday, was filled with three to four tons of salt and gravel.

The trucks are scatteres across the country dumping the mixture on major intersections and bridges. Their routes include Mercer University at Edna Place as well as Eisenhower East of the Macon Mall. Crews were also scheduled to cover Tucker Road, Peake Road, Zebulon Road. Lamar Road, Colaparchee Road, Bass Road, Bass Pro Blvd., Wesleyan Dr., Northside Dr., Arkwright Road,Sheraton Dr., Mosley Dixon Road, Columbus Road, Fulton Mill Road, Knoxville Road, Hartley Bridge Road, Sardis Church Road, and Houston Road.

Land says work crews will cover more streets Wednesday, as needed.
He says, Georgia Department of Transportation will handle clearing the interstates, but his crews are on stand by in the event they need to help clearing up I-75 or I-475.