Jefferson City and Cole County crews say road treatment will be tricky overnight for the morning commute
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
With the extreme cold temperatures and the possibility of freezing drizzle in the Cole County area, road crews are gearing up for a late-night and early morning.
Cole County Public Works
The Road Superintendent for Cole County Public Works Bryan Boyce said crews have been out treating the roads since about noon on Monday, and will continue until around 7 p.m.
An overnight crew will then report in to monitor and treat the roads overnight, then around 4 a.m., another full crew will take over to treat the roads for the early morning commute.
The extreme cold presents issues for treating the roads, according to Boyce, because the lower the temperature, the less effective salt becomes.
"We'll end up using more salt during these light snows and extreme cold temperatures than we would say for a larger snow," Boyce said. "It does definitely present challenges to our budget when it comes to these frequent small snows and extremely cold temperatures."
Right now, crews are putting down a mix of sand and salt just to give cars traction.
"At some point, we are just giving traction, especially when it's this cold, we are applying material to the road just to give vehicles traction," Boyce said. "Just be mindful of that, and if you don't have to get out, I would stay home is I could."
He said the county's salt supply right now is doing good. The county started the season with about 3,500 tons of salt, and have used about 700. Boyce said more is actually on the way now.
He's not expecting a lot of black ice because the salt isn't melting the snow like normal, which makes these systems trickier to handle.
"We're being proactive as we possibly can, but it's also very difficult to stay up with these," Boyce said. "This dry fluffy snow is much harder on our crews and harder on our salt budgets than say a heavy wet snow."
Jefferson City Public Works
The Operation Division Director of Jefferson City Public Works Britt Smith said the city's main crew will stay through the early evening, then be back early Tuesday morning to start treating the roads for the morning commute.
He also said the bitterly cold temperatures will cause the same problems.
"We will have everything treated but whether or not that treatment will be effective is very suspect until that sun comes out and we start to get some warming," Smith said.
The freezing drizzle that is expected to happen overnight could cause some slick spots and refreezing, according to Smith.
"Whatever falls at that time, it's going to freeze on whatever it fall on," Smith said.
Watch ABC17 News at 9 and 10 for the full report. Also tune into ABC17 News Tuesday morning 30 minutes early at 4:30 a.m. for the latest on your commute.
