Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
Nov. 14, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Because of incoming inclement weather, the city is postponing several events scheduled for this weekend and offering helpful tips for the season’s first snow.

Regularly scheduled trash pick-up will not be impacted by the weather. Events and services postponed or closed include:

  • The city’s recycling, leaf, and brush drop-off locations will be closed on Saturday, Nov. 15.
  • Kansas City’s Hard to Recycle Items Event, originally scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15 will now take place on Saturday, Nov. 22.
  • Bulky item collections scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15 will now be collected on Sunday, Nov. 16.

As the winter season approaches, the city wants to remind residents to follow these tips during snow events to both stay safe and help make the city’s snow operations run smoothly and efficiently:

  • Avoid parking on city streets when it snows, but if you must, please use the north or west side of the street so snow removal crews can do their job. If vehicles are parked on both sides of a narrow street, it may not leave enough space for a snowplow, and that street might get skipped.
  • Do not park on signed emergency snow routes. Vehicles parked on these routes may be ticketed or towed during snowstorms.
  • Please wait 36 hours after snow stops falling to call 311 or tweet to @KCMO311 about slick spots or missed streets. This allows snow removal crews adequate time to complete multiple passes on all assigned snow routes. If a crew is taken off of its assigned route to take individual requests, it will delay the entire snow operation.
  • Keep children from playing in snow banks along the road.
  • Avoid driving during snow events, but if you must go out, keep water and blankets or an extra coat in your car for warmth, and keep the gas tank full. Make sure your vehicle has adequate tire tread to avoid getting stuck.
  • Keep a snow shovel in your trunk. You never know when you might need one during your travels.
  • When shoveling the end of your driveway where it meets the road, also clear a 10-foot strip along the curb to the left (when facing the road) to avoid snow plows pushing it back across your driveway.
  • Be a good neighbor, and remove snow and ice from any sidewalks on your property, whether residential or business, within a reasonable time after a snowfall.
  • Follow the city on Twitter and Facebook for updates and information on major snow events.

Steve Porter, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said in an email that MoDOT crews began to pre-treat major highways, ramps and bridges with salt brine Friday morning to prepare for the early season snowstorm. MoDOT’s Kansas City District will have 426 workers, 208 plow trucks, 20 TowPLows, three salt brine tankers and a new mobile brine maker ready to work around the clock to clear snow from more than 7,000 miles of interstate and state highways in the nine county District.

Even light precipitation can cause roads to become slick with ice or snow. It’s important to allow extra time for travel and to check road conditions before you head out. Remember the following tips when driving in inclement weather:

  • Always, everyone, buckle up
  • Slow down.
  • Steer and brake gently.
  • Accelerate slowly at intersections.
  • Allow extra space between your vehicle and the one ahead of you.
  • Stay back 100 feet from snow plows that may be spreading salt. Avoid passing snow plows, even when on a multi-lane road.
  • Be aware that bridges and overpasses generally experience freezing conditions first.