DOTD Better Prepared For Winter Storm This Week
Department of Transportation and Development Public Information Officer for the Acadiana Parishes, Deidra Druilhet joined 'Mornings With Ken and Bernie' today to discuss predicted harsh winter conditions due to hit Acadiana by late tonight and DOTD preparations.
When asked if conditions were going to be different from last week Druilhet said,
It's looking like we're going to run into the same conditions we had last week. They're saying of course now we're looking maybe a forecast of snow also that will effect area a little more.
Some people have questioned why iced roads and bridges had to be closed last week. According to Druilhet,
Just after midnight or so Friday our crews were actually out there late Thursday night putting down sand and salt ahead of time, you know to help create a lot better traction on the roads before the weather would make us close down roads...The main thing that impacted us was temperatures never got above freezing. Because they never got over freezing that caused very little effect with the deicing materials we were putting down...We had to wait until temperatures got above freezing so that we could put down the sand, the salt and the potassium acetate.
Noting that we are not faced with ice and snow on a regular basis put an additional strain on DOTD. Druilhet said,
It did get to the point where you know we did run short. So, we actually had to get some more materials from Shreveport because they did not get hit as hard as we did...We're getting a lot more in stock. We got some over the weekend and we're getting a lot more today.
You can hear all of Druilhet's comments by clicking the blue arrow below to listen to the interview: