Winter Storm Pax: Raleigh-Durham Drivers Deal with Atlanta-like Gridlock Wednesday

Weather.com ^ | Feb 12, 2014, 7:43 PM EST | Jess Baker

[Pan_Yan]

Interstates remained gridlocked around the Raleigh-Durham area Wednesday night, creating eerily similarities to the traffic nightmare in Atlanta just two weeks ago.

The trouble started around lunch as businesses and schools released early, just as the heaviest snow started falling. NCDOT online maps showed no one was moving on I-40, I-85 and other major roads.

According to ABC 11 in Raleigh, police weren't even responding to minor accidents, instead telling drivers to exchange license and insurance information. Officers want to clear the roads as quickly as possible. One driver in Durham told The Weather Channel he'd only gone one mile in three and a half hours.

[octex]

The problem is I don’t think Atlanta salts the roads.
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Here in the DFW area, they pre-treat the overpasses, etc., when they know the icing is coming. They use a mix of sand and magnesium cloride. ...Unless it’s a severe ice storm, it helps to keep the traffic moving; though slowly.

Our cars don’t rust out like those up North that use the harder salt treatment. Learned as a teen to always check for any evidence of rust, as used cars often were shipped South from the North and from places that had suffered floods.

In recent times most autos are undercoated during manufacturing, but previously the buyer/owner had to pay extra to have that done.

[FreeReign]

This winter my SUV is covered from top to bottom in salt. Can't even read the front license plate.

But my clean sports car sits in the garage waiting for a heavy rain to wash all the salt off the road.