City of Columbia readies plows, utility crews for winter storm
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
As a large winter system heads towards the Show-Me State, the City of Columbia's Public Works Department is prepping snowplows, monitoring local, state and regional forecasts and preparing a response plan.
At noon on Saturday, a crew of 28 City of Columbia Public Works snowplow operators began pre-treating roads. A second crew of 24 operators is scheduled to take over at 7 p.m., with a crew of 33 operators taking back over by 7 a.m. Jan. 5 to manage the storm’s impact, according to a city news release.
John Ogan, a spokesperson for the City of Columbia Public Works, tells ABC 17 News the city started to pre-treat some of its roads on Friday. Salt trucks are pre-treating the roads in the same route lay out snow plows intend to clear them: a first, second and third priority basis.
If snow reaches 4 inches high, all city streets are plowed and treated to be drivable 24 hours, seven days a week once all priority routes are passable, per the city's policy.
The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team has issued a Weather Alert Day for Saturday night through Monday morning. Snow and ice are expected to start falling on Mid-Missouri on Saturday evening. Several inches of snow could accumulate along with ice.
The City of Columbia has 36 snowplow trucks in its fleet, including 14 large trucks, four smaller large trucks, four medium-sized trucks and 13 1-ton trucks. The City of Columbia held its annual dry snow run last fall to ensure snow plow crews were familiar with the routes and to review safety procedures.
According to Ogan, staffing numbers are up from with only a few vacancies left to fill in the plow crews.
"There are three vacancies right now. This is opposed to last year going into winter when we had 17 vacancies. So by that fact alone, I think we're doing significantly better on staffing," Ogan said.
According to a city news release, City of Columbia Utilities will also have additional crews on standby for the potential of downed power lines.
The Missouri Department of Transportation is also mustering drivers for the coming storm. However, the agency warned that extreme cold coming in with the snow and ice could create additional challenges for clearing roads.
Ogan encouraged residents to closely monitor the forecast and changing road conditions throughout the mid-Missouri area, especially those who use public and para-transit in Columbia.
"We're going to make that decision on Sunday whether or not we'll have normal operations on Monday. It's likely that there will be delays," said Ogan. "Depending on the volume of snow that we get, it may be difficult for our para-transit vans to pick up our customers until perhaps Wednesday."
Ogan asked Columbia residents to stay home if possible as the weather rolls through as less traffic on the roads makes it easier and safer for the plows to get their job done. However, the city's policy states that if there are more than 2 inches of snow on first and second-priority routes with designated signs, residents are not supposed to park there.
Columbia Public Schools sent a reminder to parents that students will now be asked to focus on "alternative methods of instruction" on days when school is out because of weather.
Statewide, Gov. Mike Parson issued an emergency order allowing for the call up of the National Guard and relaxing fuel transportation rules in advance of the storm.
The ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Alert Day will end at 10 a.m. Monday.
