Here’s why SC treated Beaufort County bridges for ice, but not the roads

If you’ve ever been stuck up North during winter, you know road crews are constantly treating the roads ahead of ice and snow storms.

But in Beaufort County—where a winter storm comes once every 10 years or so—is there even a pre-storm treatment plan place?

The answer is “yes,” but only for bridges, according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

Transportation crews from across the state started traveling to the Lowcountry earlier this week to help, according to Kevin Turner, a spokesperson for the Department.

“We’ve mobilized so much equipment and workforce down to this area that we’ve basically tripled our manforce in Beaufort County,” Turner said.

Starting Tuesday, crews pre-treated high-level bridges across Beaufort County with brine, a salt solution sprayed on ahead of a winter storm. Brine is applied before a storm so that when the solution dries, it leaves streaks of salt residue that helps to keep ice from forming and sticking to the bridge.

Still, many bridges across the County were closed by the Sheriff’s Office since early Wednesday morning.

The Department of Transportation is working to treat those bridges with salt and a brine solution throughout the day with a goal of getting those re-opened, Turner said.

As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, McTeer, Bell, Whale Branch and Chowan bridges had been re-opened after the Department’s treatment.

Aside from the bridges, no roads in Beaufort County were treated by the Department of Transportation.

“Pre-treating every road in Beaufort County would just be impractical,” Turner said.

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This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Here’s why SC treated Beaufort County bridges for ice, but not the roads."