Columbia and Boone prepared for New Year’s wintry weather
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Works and Boone County Road & Bridge are preparing Wednesday for the wintry weather expected this weekend.
The city and county could see snow, ice and freezing rain on New Year's day.
John Ogan, with Columbia Public Works, said they prepared to take the wintry mix on.
"We're ready for whatever might happen, right now crews are loading salt spreaders on trucks," Ogan.
Eric Edington Director, Boone County Road & Bridge said the county is down a couple of workers due to the holidays and COVID-19, it could take them a bit longer to get to every county road.
"We're down a few positions, but I think with everyone here we would be able to handle the thing. We would at least get out there and get stuff done in a timely manner," Edington said.
The city will first clear what they call priority roads...like Nifong, Broadway, Vandiver drive. Those roads will be treated 24 hours a day, depending on how much snow the city gets.
Boone County will take care of about 790 miles of county roads. The county says the key for them will be keeping an eye on pavement temperatures.
"We have to keep an eye on pavement temps, as to when to call people out because it's pretty fruitless to call people out when the pavement temperatures are up high enough," Edington said.
The city and county recommend staying home during the wintry weather, but if you have to hit the roads take caution.
"Keep your speed down, keep some emergency supplies in your vehicle in case you get stranded," Ogan said.
The city has an alert system anyone can sign up for. The city sends out a text alert if there is two inches or more of snow on the roads.
To sign up for an alert you can text your zip code to 888-777.
When driving in bad road conditions you may want to have extra supplies like an ice scraper, water bottles, a blanket, snacks, flashlight, ice scraper and snow brush.
