Severe weather is on the way to Tennessee, amid other states, so how is TDOT preparing? We checked in with Nichole Lawrence, regional communications officer with TDOT.
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00:00Nicole Lawrence. She's a regional communications officer with the Tennessee Department of Transportation and she joins us right now and Nicole. Right now we're watching out for roads in Texas and other states. We've seen dangerous high winds and dust storms tipping over high profile vehicles such as semis. How are you preparing right now in the state of Tennessee?
00:18We are monitoring the weather with you guys and our National Weather Service there with the local National Weather Service and just making sure that our highways are clear of any kind of large debris, small debris, cleaning out those drains and getting our trucks just really ready to go out on call as we are needed.
00:39So what is the criteria to close highways? Sometimes there may be dust or smoke and especially high winds. I realize the dust and smoke is more of an issue a little to your west, but what's the criteria for high winds to close highways?
00:52So our goal is to never close a highway. Circumstances may close the highway, but our goal is to keep the motoring public moving safely as possible.
01:03Okay, we can definitely understand that. What are you most concerned about with more severe weather, thunderstorms and potential tornadoes heading throughout not just today, but as we head throughout tomorrow as well?
01:14Yeah, downed trees is always a huge problem and then they get intertwined with our utility departments in the lines that are also up and across the highways. So we have a great working partner relationship with those companies that, you know, whether we're working with traffic control or we're helping clear up the trees that are intertwined with those utility companies.
01:35And we also realize that there's going to be significant flood potential once we get deeper into this event in the Volunteer State. So what messaging do you want your residents to follow during this extreme weather event?
01:48You know, just plan ahead. Know before you go. We have a great tool on our webpage, smartway.tn.gov, that they can go and look for road conditions. And we keep that up to date with any kind of road conditions, whether it's flooded or if circumstances do close it due to downed trees and power lines.
02:07Very good advice right there for sure. Nicole Lawrence with the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Thank you so much for joining us here on this busy Friday.