Northeast News
Feb. 27, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — City workers are preparing for this weekend’s snow.

Crews assigned to arterial, primary and residential streets are prepared to respond to the winter weather that is forecasted to move through the Kansas City, Mo., area. Forecasts are estimating between three and five inches of snow.

Crews assigned to primary and arterial routes will begin mobilizing at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28, to clear city roads and bridges. The city has approximately 6,400 lane miles of pavement in its street system. In order to keep traffic moving during a winter weather event, the city’s snow plan prioritizes plowing into two types of snow routes: primary/arterial routes and residential routes.

On primary and arterial routes, the city’s Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Water Services departments collaborate on removing snow and ice from approximately 2,400 lane-miles of pavement and apply, salt as needed. On primary and arterial streets, crews plow curb-to-curb and work around the clock.

On residential snow routes, crews use smaller trucks and work 12-hour shifts during daytime hours to provide a passable lane by plowing and applying salt on intersections, hills and curves. When possible, crews will widen the passable lane, which may still have some snow pack due to low pavement temperatures.

The Missouri Department of Transportation plows highways. Many streets in Kansas City are actually part of the highway system and plowing them is MoDOT’s responsibility. These streets include: Bannister Road, Noland Road, Vivion Road, Antioch Road and part of Independence Avenue.

When snow depths exceed a couple of inches, residents are advised that off-street parking during snow plow operations greatly enhances the ability of snow plows to remove snow, especially in cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets. Residents parking on signed Emergency Snow Routes should be prepared to find alternate parking locations to avoid vehicles being ticketed or towed.

Residents wanting to report slick spots or missed streets to the city’s 311 Call Center are advised that while crews are running assigned snow routes, it is assumed that all streets are slick. Only after snow has stopped falling and all snow routes have been run does the city’s 311 Call Center accept requests for slick spots and missed streets.