ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Transportation Highway Emergency Response Operators (HERO) is here to help 24/7, again.
GDOT had to scale back its HERO team a couple of years ago. However, GDOT says it’s fully staffed and ready to respond.
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The HERO program has been around for more than 30 years.
However, on July 1, 2023, GDOT decided to scale back on its operations.
GDOT says COVID-19 played a factor, since it’s a job you have to do in person. GDOT says it was hard to recruit and retain.
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However, in the two years since, officials say they’ve gotten back up to full staff.
HERO is returning to 24/7 service on July 1.
GDOT says in the past two years, it’s had more than 135,000 calls for service. They’ll now go back to covering over 400 miles of Georgia roads.
They’re responsible for clearing roads after accidents and getting traffic flowing back to normal. The team also acts as roadside assistance.
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“You can’t time when things are happening on that road. It can happen at 1 a.m., it can happen at 1 p.m. You can’t make an appointment for when your car breaks down, or there’s an overturned tractor-trailer, or for when someone needs help, so we wanted to be flexible enough to offer that 24/7,” GDOT spokesperson Natalie Dale told Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers.
Call 511 if you’re on a Georgia road and need HERO’s help.
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