Storm over road clearing eases

When weather in early December dropped 15.5 inches of snow on Columbia, many residential streets were left unplowed for several days, making it difficult for some residents on smaller streets to leave their homes until plows could make it into their neighborhoods.

So when the sleet and ice storms hit the city over the weekend, Columbians were prepared for more days of rough conditions. But with a little luck and some new strategies in the Columbia Public Works Department, residential streets remained relatively clear this time around.

City crews are still working to get residential streets completely clear, said Mary Ellen Lea, operations manager for the Public Works Department.

“During the day, when the sun is out and it’s a little bit warmer, we go back over them to break up ice and clear it out of the way,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep the salt-and-cinder mix on all areas and continue to break it up.”

Overall, most residents seemed content with the recent snow and ice removal and said they understand that the city has limitations.

Russ Green’s street in Smithton Ridge was plowed about three days after the ice storms. He didn’t expect much more than that given the city’s response in his western Columbia neighborhood in December.

“The plowing hasn’t improved from the last snow,” Green said. “We had a couple of days’ wait this time just like the last time, but we figured that was the way it was going to be.”

Still, he sees the complications with handling Missouri’s erratic winter weather.

“There are two ways to look at it,” Green said. “It isn’t the best way to spend the city’s money to prepare for snowfall that comes every three years. On the other hand, when it does come, it paralyzes the city for a few days. There’s no easy answer.”

The city staff in a Dec. 14 report to the Columbia City Council offered several solutions to the problems it experienced during the first big snowfall. It has since acted on many of those plans. The Public Works Department quickly established an emergency operations office, a room packed with computers, phones and radios to keep track of plowing progress.

“We have all the equipment to help us through any type of emergency,” Lea said.

In the Rock Bridge neighborhood in south Columbia, Robyn Vradenburg was happy with the city’s progress in clearing her residential streets.

“After the first snow, going down Providence was very slick, but going out this weekend I had absolutely no problem,” Vradenburg said. “Compared to the first snow, this is great. I’m happy with the way that they’ve done the clearing.”

Cherie Rutter, who lives on the northeast edge of town in the Deer Ridge neighborhood, agreed that her neighbors and she had less reason to complain than they did in December.

Because her neighborhood is so far on the outskirts of the city, she said residents there normally expect to be among the last to see the snow plows. Last weekend, the city arrived first on Friday to spread a cinder-and-salt mixture on the ice, then workers bladed the roads Sunday morning.

“They came down two or three times,” she said. “I was surprised at how quickly they came.”

Lea saw improvement in the city’s communication with the public and the media.

“We made more of an effort to put press releases out to the media to inform the public of what we were doing,” she said.

Greg Ahrens, who lives in the White Gate neighborhood just north of Interstate 70, was pleased with the improved response in his area. He said city crews reacted much quicker than during the previous storm, but he also noted there were different circumstances.

“(Last time) the snow was so deep, there wasn’t much they could do,” Ahrens said.

Lea agreed that the two storms required different approaches.

“There was more ice, so we couldn’t do plowing,” she said. “We were more concentrated on spreading cinder and salt.”

Some streets remain covered by a hard pack of ice, given the cold temperatures that have hindered melting since the storm subsided.

“By Monday at least 90 percent of the streets were cleared, but we’re still getting phone calls that streets re-freeze, and we go clear that. We appreciate the feedback,” Lea said.

Plows and salt trucks have been clearing downtown Columbia all day, removing piles that were in the center of the road.

“We’re mostly done, and we’ll keep working tonight. We anticipate to be done by tomorrow,” Lea said.