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Carolina Curious: How Does NCDOT Prioritize Clearing Snowy Roads?

Road salt and other equipment sits ready at the NCDOT Division 9 Maintenance Yard. SEAN BUETER/WFDD

As the Triad prepares for potentially heavy snow this weekend, people at the North Carolina Department of Transportation are getting ready too.

Listener Whitney Kuebert wanted to know how exactly they do that, among other things.

“Who makes the decision – when bad weather is coming – which roads get treated?”

We went searching for answers from the people at NCDOT Division 9.

At the division's maintenance yard at noon Friday, there were a few trucks and loaders here and there, and a crew preparing salt brine for the roads. But mostly, it was quiet.

Though, to be fair, it's the quiet before the snowstorm.

That doesn't mean road crews all over the state aren't getting ready, though. According to Division 9 Maintenance Engineer John Rhyne, it's quite the opposite.

“The five counties that we manage are all in the mode of preparing,” he says. “We're checking out equipment, adjusting our

Sean Bueter joined WFDD in August 2015 as a reporter covering issues across the Piedmont Triad and beyond.Previously, Sean was a reporter, host and news director at WBOI in Fort Wayne, Ind., just a few hours from where he grew up. He also sorted Steve Inskeep's mail as an intern at NPR in Washington, D.C.Sean has experience on a variety of beats, including race, wealth and poverty, economic development, and more. His work has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and APM's Marketplace.In his spare time, Sean plays tennis (reasonably well), golf (reasonably poorly), and scours local haunts for pinball machines to conquer.

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