By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Emergency snow routes in St. Joseph have been cleared. City road crews now are working to clean up other streets throughout the city.
St. Joseph Public Works Director, Abe Forney, says his snowplow drivers have been out since this major winter storm was first forecast.
“We run nonstop,” Forney tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, three days ago or four days ago, whatever it is now, I’m losing track, we started pretreating all the streets with the salt brine. And then right before the snow, they started hitting some granular salt down. As soon as the snow started to fall or as soon as the sleet started to fall, our crews have been on 24 hours a day.”
Forney says 18 snowplow drivers are out during the day with about half that number taking over during the night shift. Though the snowfall has been soft, it has drifted considerably, adding to the difficulty to clearing city streets. Anyway from 10 t0 12 inches of snow fell in St. Joseph.
Forney says the snow caught some motorists who ventured out, disrupting the snow removal process.
“A lot of the time when people have no parking garages or park on the street it makes it difficult to get around,” Forney says. “And then when people get out and start moving around before the emergency routes are cleared, they start getting stuck and we have to either go around them and that causes an issue or we have to help them get out.”
Though the snow that fell throughout Sunday was deep, it was light without a lot of moisture. Forney says that made it easier to deal with that heavy snowfall.
Forney says his road crews know the importance of their work.
“We really do work for the community,” Forney says. “And we understand that everybody’s got to get out and get to their jobs and everybody’s got to get their medication. So, please be patient with us.”
Snowplow drivers in St. Joseph have a lot of ground to cover. The city has approximately 436 miles of streets.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.