No rest for HC Roads Department

The Henry County Roads Department has a one-track mind as freezing rain fell on Tuesday, Jan. 22, and snowstorms continue to hit the area.

Jake Hotchkiss, Henry County engineer, cautioned residents about freezing rain Tuesday and asked for their patience as they fight the wind and clear snowdrifts.

'It's all hands on deck,” Hotchkiss said during a regular Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22. 'The guys have been putting in a lot of hours and worked 12-hour days two weekends in a row.”

Freezing rain is difficult to prepare roads for because it washes sand and salt off the roads before freezing, Hotchkiss said.

Hotchkiss said complaints continue to come into the Engineer's Office from landowners about snowplows pushing snow across driveways and blocking them, but the road crew's instructions are to keep working on the roads. It is the landowner's responsibility to clear their driveways, Hotchkiss said.

Hotchkiss said they are fighting winds that push snowdrifts back across the roads. On Saturday, Jan. 19, crews 'punched a hole” in snowdrifts, but it didn't take long for a lot of it to drift back in, Hotchkiss said.

Road crews have hit every road, but the wind is making it difficult to keep up with drifting snow. The department has received a few calls from residents saying they are stranded until a snow plow is able to plow their road a second or even third time.

'I had a call (Monday). We were there two out of three days, but it just kept drifting in,” Hotchkiss said. 'The reality is that they were stranded.”

Hotchkiss said overall he doesn't feel that the calls have been 'outrageously bad.”

'I think the public understands for the most part and we appreciate their patience,” he said. 'Eventually, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.”