(Memphis) TDOT said Friday they’ve been working hard to make sure the I-55 and I-40 bridge over the Mississippi River do not ice over like they did in January.
January 14th, dozens of cars had to wait hours to cross the bridges while TDOT pushed vehicles across because the bridges were covered in ice.
“Our bridges of course are the first thing that does freeze because it doesn’t have the warmth of the ground to keep it from freezing up,” said TDOT Regional Manage Mike Welch.
“We have some crews that are out monitoring, we call them scouts. If it gets below freezing, those things are like frozen. We want to keep salt on them we want to keep brine on them,” said Welch, who also mentioned a new mixture containing Calcium chloride was being used this year.
TDOT has 5 million pounds of salt that it will use over West Tennessee to help keep road ways ice free. They are working with Arkansas to coordinate their efforts.
“We don’t want to clean half of a bridge. In Arkansas, we will cross over to Arkansas the big I-40 bridge and go down and turn around,” said Welch.
Despite the preparation, some drivers News Channel 3 spoke with said they weren’t taking any chances.
“I wouldn’t go to West Memphis right now. I try to avoid the bridges at all cost when it’s icy out, it’s too treacherous,” said Mathew Bonderud.