Severe weather may be gone, but roads remain dangerous

Information:
Driving safety tips for Friday from Alabama State Troopers Public Information Officer Kevin Cook:
- Drive slower than you normally would because of the wet roads.
- Pay attention to barricades and signs. If a road is closed, there is a reason.
- Be aware of your surroundings. Don’t try to drive on any roads with standing water.

The good news is the onslaught of severe weather throughout the Wiregrass is gone for the time being. The bad news is many roads throughout the area will remain closed for the foreseeable future, and others are still dangerous.

In Geneva County, 95 roads will remain closed Friday, with another 10 open but suffering from storm-related damage.

Houston County still has upwards of 20 road closures, and Houston County Commission Chairman Mark Culver says it may remain that way for at least the next few days.

“Over the next two days, we’re going to try to reopen them, as many as possible,” Culver said. “We’re trying to focus on Flowers Chapel Road and Highway 203, roads that are heavily traveled. I can’t guarantee they’ll be open at some point (Friday), but we’re focusing on them. We’re still looking at several months to get all the roads back open.”

And even the roads that haven’t been closed could still pose dangers to motorists this weekend.

“Motorists have got to remain cognizant of their surroundings,” Dothan Fire Capt. Chris Etheredge said. “If they approach any areas with standing water on roads, they need to not cross those roads. Be mindful of barricades and closed road signs. Even though it may appear to have sufficient road or asphalt, some roads are closed due to undermining of the asphalt, and the weight of the vehicle could cause the road to collapse.”

Etheredge and others said motorists ignoring barricades has been a significant problem.

“We have had people taking our barricades down and throwing them in the creeks or turning them sideways so you can go through them,” Geneva County
Emergency Management Agency Director Margaret Mixon said. “They have been doing doughnuts in their vehicles on our county roads. These pranks could cost someone their life. Somebody could get hurt or somebody could get killed by going through these barricaded roads.”

Driving around the barricades is illegal, and the Alabama State Troopers wrote 12 tickets last weekend alone. However, not every dangerous road is going to be barricaded.

“The roads are still going to be extremely wet Friday, and a lot of oil has come up and is washing off the roadways now,” said Kevin Cook, public information officer for the Alabama State Troopers. “If you still see a bunch of water piled up on road, be more cautious, because there’s a strong possibility the integrity of the road has been compromised. We still haven’t been able to assess all roads.”

The risks aren’t always obvious to the common eye.

“The biggest danger there is you really don’t recognize it from the driver seat of a vehicle, because you’re looking at top side of road,” Cook said. “There could be a few inches of asphalt there but no substructure under the asphalt. Those are the things our engineers look for. It could cause significant damage and injury if you were to come upon one of those undermined areas.”