Dangerous road conditions in Jackson, agencies advise residents to not get out

I am here in north Jackson, right off of old Humboldt road and as you can see behind me there is not a lot of tread marks from cars driving on this road, which is a good thing. After talking with the Tennessee department of transportation and the city of Jackson street department they are saying that the salt they laid a couple of days ago is not really working with these low temperatures so now they are having to plow all of this snow away.

From hours of constant snow to negative degree wind chills, west Tennessee is in the middle of a large winter storm.

Which is causing many agencies to advise people to stay off the road.

“We’ll be working in shifts as long as we can 24 hours a day to get to the roads where they can be clear," says TDOT community relations officer, Nichole Lawrence.

Salt went down over the weekend to prepare for this storm but the TDOT and the Jackson street department are looking at a more mechanical way to remove the ice and snow now.

“When you get to a certain temperature it’s not going to work. It’s good, people driving on it that’s why you can see that working a little bit because it’s getting ran over a lot and the tire print is indented into it, but the temperature has got to be up a little bit more," say Jackson street department director, Percy Jones.

Lawrence adds, “interstates are our top priority, but with that said it is very cold and the precipitation that is falling down, it’s just very hard to work.”

So the best guidance for the next couple of days is to stay off the roads and if you have to get on the road and you have to drive make sure you do that carefully and slowly.