Asheville crews to pretreat streets for snow

Asheville could be in store for a snowy weekend and the City of Asheville is gearing up to ensure roads are prepped.

“City crews will be pretreating priority one roads later today,” said Public Works Director Greg Shuler.

What will they treat the roads with? Salt brine. “Once the salt brine dries, it leaves a film of salt, which delays freezing to the road,” explained Asheville Streets Division Manager Chad Bandy.

According to the National Weather Service, there is a 20 percent chance of snow tonight, a 40 percent chance of snow Friday and a 60 percent chance of snow Friday night. Asheville could see a 1- to 3-inch accumulation by Friday night/Saturday morning.

As always, priority one roads will be cleared first — those are main routes used most often for our first responders and of course the streets around Mission Hospital. You can see a map of priority roads by visiting Asheville’s SnowMapper webpage.

The City of Asheville has 28 trucks equipped for snow removal. The Streets Division works 31 staffers per shift. During snow, two shifts work, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. “We will have all scheduled staff on hand Friday night and Saturday,” said Bandy.

 

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