Sunshine Is Biggest Need To Improve Putnam Roads

The Putnam County Highway Department has been working since 6:30pm Sunday to get dangerous stretches of road drivable. 

Road Supervisor Randy Jones said Phifer Mountain, Rocky Point Mountain, and Buck Mountain are the department’s main concerns. He said the initial intensity of the snowfall got mountain roads slick and dangerous, extremely quickly. He said with only five snow plows, there is very little difference the department can make until the snow stops and the sun comes out. 

“The sun can come out and it’s probably 25 degrees, and it can stay out three or four hours and it’ll do a lot,” Jones said. “It can do more in three hours than we can do in two days without the sun shining.” 

Jones said the plows double as salt trucks. He said the county does not have the resources to spread brine as well as salt. Jones said crews worked through the night and will begin to spread out toward areas they have not reached yet. 

“Mostly when we first start, we have the dangerous intersections,” Jones said. We’ve got several mountains to the east that we work usually first. Then we sort of spread out from there, but, we’ve got 700 miles of road and we’ve got five trucks, so we don’t get spread around too much through the day.” 

Jones said the department is also not equipped to reach subdivisions. He also said not all roads can be treated with salt. He said some roads made with a heavy concentration of oil could deteriorate and crumble into gravel if salt is used. Dangerous roads that can be salted are being treated now, as he said salting the road before snow and ice hit does not good. 

“If you don’t have to be out, just stay home and give us a little time,” Jones said. “It’s going to get worse. Today, it’s still snowing, the temperatures are going to get lower tonight, so it’s not going to be a good driving time right now.”