Kansas City crews prepare for expected snow blast

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Metro crews are preparing for the snow and frigid temperatures heading toward the metro area this week.

Zan McKinney with the city of Independence said snowplow crews have been prepping for winter weather since September.

“We calibrate all our vehicles, and that calibration ties down to not only the ground speed and how fast the trucks are going at that speed, how much like hard material like rock salt or treated salt that we’re throwing out calcium, salt or whatever it may be,” McKinney said. In Kansas City, crews will work 12-hour shifts around the clock to treat the roads.

“We want drivers to know that we’re going to be out treating the roads and clearing everything that will be on the roads,” City of Kansas City Press Secretary, Sherae Honeycutt, said. “However, we don’t expect this snow to stick but we will be treating it like we treat any snow.”

Honeycutt said crews would start working Sunday night to salt hills, bridges, and curves, and around 6 a.m. a second response team will begin treating and clearing roads as needed.

In Olathe, Kansas, crews treated the roads starting at 4 a.m.

Night-shift drivers will be pre-treating elevated surfaces and another team will come in hours later to start snow removal.

“Friday afternoon all of the rigs were set up on the trucks and everything prepped then so that way one less thing to worry about when you’re able to start your shift,” Cody Kennedy with the City of Olathe said.

On top of the snow plowing, crews also have another task of bracing the roads for the frigid temps later this week. “The traditional materials that we use at those times really are not effective,” McKinney said. “So our biggest thing is trying to get the roads clear as soon as possible because the sooner we can get it off the pavement the better it is for all of us.”