Cold weather limits salt effectiveness as Columbia crews plow roads

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

After Mid-Missouri was blanketed with 5-9 inches of snow this past weekend, Columbia road crews faced challenges clearing streets because of frigid temperatures early Monday.

A spokesperson for Columbia Public Works told ABC 17 News temperatures dropped to minus 8 degrees Monday morning, preventing much of the salt from effectively reacting with the snow and ice.

By 2:30 p.m., pavement temperatures were still below freezing, but the sunlight helped the salt react as crews plowed and treated the roads. 

Columbia residents can track where snowplow crews have been and where they’re headed next using the city’s snow-clearing progress viewer. The online map shows which streets have already been plowed and which ones are still waiting to be cleared.

The city's main focus has been its first- and second-priority roads, which include Vandiver Drive, North and South Providence Road, Creasy Springs Road, Clark Lane and downtown Columbia, though residential plowing was announced on Monday afternoon.

Despite efforts to clear downtown Columbia, many main roads remained covered in snow and slush, with conditions worst in parts of the University of Missouri campus. The area between Rollins and Rogers streets remained listed as a high-priority neighborhood for crews to clear.

By 7 p.m., several neighborhoods remained on the city’s priority list for clearing, including areas near Shorham Court and Medford Drive, just off Chapel Hill Road near Limestone Avenue, as well as Marble Cedars Drive and the neighborhood surrounding Crabapple Drive.

ABC 17 News spoke to a resident in the Crabapple Drive neighborhood who said that city crews did come through the area, but were limited in what they were able to clear due to cars being parked on the street.