A little more than a year ago, an ice storm almost completely shut down travel in Southeast Alabama, and officially, the county’s roads were closed.

In the past, roads also have been closed because of flooding, or after a hurricane.

A new policy adopted by the Covington County Commission this week will change the way the county reacts to conditions that make roads dangerous for travel.

County Engineer Darren Capps said the Association of County Commissions of Alabama is advising all counties to change is policies.

“It’s a new way of advising about dangerous road conditions,” Capps said.

“Technically, if we say a road is closed, it should be barricaded,” Capps said. “There is no way we could barricade all of them. This policy lays out the actual language we would use.”

Commissioner Harold Elmore said the change is a good thing.

“If it’s closed, an emergency vehicle is not supposed to go on it,” he said. “There are times when you need to get an ambulance out in a situation like this. This will be better.”