Columbia Public Works working around the clock to make roads safer

Columbia Public Works crews are working around the clock to make roads safer. The plan of attack for Monday night is continual road treatments, and plowing residential areas.

Public Works said some residential areas have been plowed already, but some are still covered. Extreme temperatures are posing some challenges; some priority routes are re-freezing.

“It’s just a slow and difficult go, but the crews are making progress,” said Steve Sapp with Columbia Public Works.

But some residents are dissatisfied with that progress.

“We’re afraid to go out because we might not get back in,” said Columbia resident Wayne Greer.

Greer lives in Cimarron Estates, one neighborhood where streets are still blanketed with snow and a plow has not passed through at all yet. He said he feels the city has let him down.

“When we first moved here quite a few years ago, they plowed religiously,” Greer said. “Not anymore. The last few years, it seems to get a little worse every year.”

Columbia Public Works said they’re doing the best they can.

“We are trying to plow curb to curb in residential areas, so we have a nice, wide roadway people are used to, but again, people need to know the definition of passable roads is roads could still have some snow packs on it,” Sapp said.

Public Works is also reminding residents they need to shovel their driveways and sidewalks to make the areas safer. But Greer said he is not touching those until the city steps up.

“If they’ll do their part, I’ll do mine,” he said.

Columbia crews are not the only ones facing challenges. In Boone County, crews are having equipment problems. Two of eight motor graders are down and two snow plows broke down in the last week. Those plows are still unusable.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said they are also doing their part by taking care of the exit ramps and any other issues on the interstates.