Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Afternoon Roadways Updates

I just received updates from the City of Spokane, Spokane County and the Washington State Department of Transportation on the snow situation. Here's the County's latest:

Last night's snow and wind caused 8-10 foot drifts in parts of southern Spokane County. Fortunately, the snow's powdery consistency made it relatively easy for road crews to plow. This afternoon, crews are working 12 hours shifts to clear more than 2,500 miles of road with approximately 80 pieces of equipment. Crews have finished primary arterials and are making progress on secondary roads and hills. With more snow in the forecast this week, they will have to return to plowing primary arterials, etc. and it may take several days before all of the residential areas are cleared.

Crews are working with plows, sanding trucks and graders – but current temperatures are too cold for liquid de-icer to be effective. Granular de-icer is being combined with sand and applied in high-volume intersections.

The public can assist snow removal efforts by moving cars off of streets and roads.


And the City's:

City crews have made great progress today, and the City expects to have Stage 1 Snow Emergency lifted overnight after crews complete the full plow of the arterials and bus routes.

And WSDOT's:

Although WSDOT crews are out in force clearing roadways, they cannot be everywhere at once and there are some roadways with compact snow and ice. Drivers should be prepared, carry chains, slow down and schedule extra time to reach your destination safely. Slow down when approaching intersections, off-ramps, bridges or shady spots. These all have potential to develop black ice that makes driving hazardous.

2 comments:

Charles said...

I just hope they keep the truck plows out of our neighborhood. By the time they finally arrive in my area all they do is pile up ridges of snow in driveways and alleys and on the corners that mean a lot more snow shoveling. If we need a plow it takes a grader to move the packed down snow.

SRTC Staff said...

My understanding was that at this time they aren't planning to plow residential areas or downtown. And they definetely haven't plowed downtown. It's not super messy but there are some piles of snow that the smaller cars are having trouble getting through.


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.