Road agencies ready plows ahead of more snow overnight
COLUMBIA, MO (KMIZ)
Road crews are gearing up to work another long night with snowfall forecast for Mid-Missouri overnight and into Wednesday.
Until then they will continue to work at clearing the several inches of snow already covering roads.
Snowpack still covered Columbia's streets Tuesday morning. Columbia Public Works crews were in at 7 p.m. Monday as the snow continued to fall. Another crew reported in at 7 a.m. Tuesday and will continue treating roads throughout the day.
Ashlyn Sherman, Marketing Specialist for Columbia Public Works, says crews are concerned with the possibility of refreezing Tuesday night, creating even more issues for drivers Wednesday morning.
"There is a concern with refreezing overnight with the sunshine and with traffic on roads that does help melt the snow on roads and help with the snowpack, so that is the concern that, that could refreeze overnight.", said Sherman.
Greg Edington, director of Boone County Road and Bridge, said the sun coming out Tuesday helped melt the snow that is packed onto roads.
Boone County sent out crews overnight Monday as well, reporting in at 7 p.m. A morning crew came in at 7 a.m. Edington says Road and Bridge plan to send out a crew at 7 p.m. Tuesday and another morning crew will report at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
The department is still trying to get to gravel roads to begin treatment, but for now, the priority remains the main roads, Edington said.
Jefferson City Public Works had crews report in at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning. A crew of 24 plow drivers and additional staff will continue to treat roads throughout Tuesday. Crews will continue to monitor conditions throughout the day.
Britt Smith with Jefferson City Public Works said the sun helped road treatments be more effective. Temperatures hit record lows in the area Tuesday morning. Road treatments are less effective in such low temperatures.
Smith says supervisors will monitor road conditions overnight. The department will have its crews report for duty at 5 a.m. Wednesday to begin road treatments. He says people should stay off of the roads tonight with the threat of possible refreezing and black ice formation.
"As the evening comes there's certainly going to be some possibility of some slick spots out there and maybe even some conditions of black ice so folks need to be careful as the sun goes down and in these brutally cold temperatures, be very careful and cognizant of what you're doing.", said Smith.
State highways, like local roads, were also covered or partially covered with snow Tuesday, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation's traveler information map. Multiple crashes shut down eastbound Interstate 70 traffic on the Missouri River bridge at Rocheport on Tuesday morning but it wasn't clear how the weather was involved.
MoDot's District Maintenance Engineer, Jason Shafer, says crews have been working nonstop since Sunday to try to fight off the snow. Shafer said the below zero temperatures have been making it very difficult for crews to treat roads, as salt becomes ineffective at these temperatures.
"It's been very cold and our chemicals simply don't work. It was 8 degrees below zero this morning when I got up, chemicals don't work at that temperature.", said Shafer.
Shafer says crews will continue to rotate day and night shifts until the roads are cleared. A crew reported in Tuesday evening to treat roads overnight before the next snowfall.
Officials ask for the public's patience in road clearance, crews are struggling with the cold temperatures and limited treatment options.
"Just understand that with these extreme temperatures that we've had for days on in and now this is not a typical storm and we're not able to treat it in a typical way AND we're not going to get the results in the same amount of time as we have historically, so we're not ignoring anything it just takes longer in these extreme temperatures.", said Shafer.
