Road crews remind drivers to watch out for the possible refreeze from the melted snow
Columbia, Mo (KMIZ)
Snow has filled the Mid-Missouri roads and has now turned into slush. The weather conditions has kept the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Jefferson City Public Works busy keeping the roadways clear but refreeze is now a concern.
Highway 63 and other priority roadways are clear, but the Missouri Highway Patrol still wants people to stay off the roads if possible.
ABC 17 News spoke to Britt Smith, Operations Division Director for Jefferson City Public Works, just before 3 p.m.
Smith said his crew had been out working since about 5:30 a.m. and finished their primary tasks for Saturday and were doing some final clean up.
Smith said they have marked their priority roads as clear but the secondary roads as partially covered because of the type of snow the weather brought.
He said this round of snow had a lot of water with it and they will continue to monitor because refreeze will be a concern as the temperature drop.
Smith said people will need to stay aware of any black ice that may be on the ground.
"In those evening hours, we need to be mindful of black ice. It's not just black ice on the road but on those sidewalks coming from your house, or in your driveway or in those parking lots. Be cognizant of that and be aware that you could run into a patch of ice and may not be able to see it to well," Smith said.
People can access the list to those routes at jeffersoncitymo.gov.
Corporal Kyle Green with the Missouri State Highway Patrol is telling drivers to slow down while on the roadways.
He said their troopers have responded to multiple calls for crashes mainly due to speeding. "Since midnight, we had 120 calls for service, which included 56 stranded motorist and 34 total crashes. We haven't received as much snow as originally predicted which is good but we are still advising people to stay home for now, that way it'll give MoDOT and the other road crews a chance to get everything cleared off for tomorrow," said Green
According to Highway Patrol Reports, of those 34 crashes, only five involved injuries and there have been zero fatalities for Troop F.
