Transportation authorities are preparing North Carolina’s roadways for slick conditions as weather forecasts show snow headed for the Raleigh-Durham for the first time in over 1,000 days.

Highway Division 5 of the North Carolina Department of Transportation began a large-scale salt brining operation on Wednesday morning and will continue preparations through Friday when the storm is predicted to move into the area. While they were able to stay out of rush hour traffic on Wednesday morning, authorities warned during a press conference that they would be out in evening traffic on Wednesday as they try to get as much coverage in advance of the storm.

“This is a little different event; we’re out 72 hours before anticipated snow, but with the cold temperatures, it really reduces our window of where we can actually take and apply brine,” explained Doug McNeal, division maintenance engineer for NCDOT’s Division 5. “We’re looking for mid-20s and sunny as a good start for us… Tomorrow and the next day, we’ll be focusing more on the interstate system where we have the higher speeds and the higher volumes.”

Division 5 is responsible for 15,000 lane miles across Durham, Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance, Wake, and Warren counties. With a robust contract operation, DOT says roughly 350 trucks and operators will be on the road in the coverage area, but the response will depend on the amount of precipitation and potential challenges with freezing rain.

The region will have nearly 14,000 tons of salt available and two salt brine plants in Wake County capable of producing 320 gallons of brine per minute, with distribution posing more of a challenge than supply production.

“With freezing rain and also colder temperatures going in, the snow and the ice will actually bond to the pavement structure and when that happens, it’s a tough day for everybody, and it takes a lot longer to be able to get everything reopened,” added McNeal. “We’re looking at 1,000 days since our last snow event. In that time we have a lot of new drivers to the area, and young drivers that this will be the first time in it, so everybody just needs to be patient and then we’ll get through this.”