Snow totals light, road crews' workloads hefty

Jefferson City Public Works crews hit the streets Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, after an earlier-than-predicted snow began to fall late in the morning. The frozen pavement didn't take long to become slick and make safe travel difficult.
Jefferson City Public Works crews hit the streets Monday, Jan. 20, 2020, after an earlier-than-predicted snow began to fall late in the morning. The frozen pavement didn't take long to become slick and make safe travel difficult.

Three days of snowfall left Jefferson City with just over 3 inches of snow, and it left area road crews tired and worn out.

"Snows like this are much harder to deal with," said Jefferson City Operations Division Director Britt Smith. "It's very trying on the drivers and equipment. I'm not saying a 20-inch snow isn't difficult, but most of the time our snowstorms come and go within a few hours. This time, over three days, our crews probably worked 16 hours each day."

"We had them working four days this week because they came in on Monday, which was also a holiday," said Cole County Public Works Director Larry Benz.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis reported the heaviest snow fell north of the Capital City, with Lake Mykee reporting 5 inches of snow, Ashland getting just under 6 inches, and both Kingdom City and Columbia reporting 6.5 inches of snow falling from Wednesday through Friday.

South of Jefferson City, the Lake of the Ozarks area reported just an inch of snow.

The NWS lists the snow season as starting Oct. 1. Since that time, many locations along and north of Interstate 70, including Columbia, have received over a foot of snow. Jefferson City and most of the rest of mid-Missouri have received around 6 inches.

"The equipment also takes abuse with these storms," Smith said. "Our costs vary depending on the duration of the storm, but I would say for one pass on all our streets we would use an average of 300 tons of salt. Now, on one night this week, we used 500 tons, and that's because the slickest snowfall is a half-inch. You're constantly plowing and treating."

"We have 470 miles of road in the county, and 310 of that is paved, and that's where we eat up most of our salt, calcium chloride and cinder materials," Benz said. "We can't use that much on the gravel roads. We probably budgeted around $300,000 in just salt alone for this year, but I'm sure we'll have to ask for a budget adjustment so we make sure we get our salt domes fully stocked for next year."

Despite most schools canceling classes Friday, authorities were busy during the morning rush hour responding to crashes. The Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop F in Jefferson City reported that after the morning rush, their troopers had responded to 19 crashes in their 13-county patrolling area, but only one resulted in injuries.

As of Friday evening, the long-range NWS forecast into next week showed no snow in the forecast, with the exception of a slight chance Thursday night.

"It will be good to give the guys some time off," Smith said.