When will St. Clair County roads be plowed and cleared of snow? See latest conditions
After Belleville received more than 8 inches of snow and the region was pummeled with accumulations from Winter Storm Fern over the weekend, when will the roads be clear?
State-maintained roads in St. Clair County are “covered” with snow as of Monday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation’s winter conditions map.
Along with heavy snowfall, the metro-east has seen brutally cold wind chills recently, with a cold weather advisory in effect for St. Clair, Madison and surrounding counties from 6 p.m. Jan. 26 to 6 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Low temperatures made road treatments less effective, lengthening the span of hazardous travel conditions. Rock salt isn’t effective when the temperature is below 15 degrees Fahrenheit, as reported by NBC Chicago. Monday’s temperatures in Belleville are expected to range from 3 to 16 degrees, the National Weather Service St. Louis office reports.
The weather service’s seven-day forecast does not call for any days above freezing in Belleville, but Tuesday is expected to reach 30 degrees with sunny skies — a significant warming compared to the weekend.
“As long as the temperatures stay low, it’s going to have a difficult time for any chemicals to burn them off,” Norm Etling, St. Clair County Highway Department engineer, told the News-Democrat Monday.
The county’s snow removal crews have been working around the clock in 12-hour shifts since Saturday morning, Etling added, covering more than 265 miles of road. The county department prioritizes clearing heavily traveled roads and those near hospitals first.
It’s important for drivers to give snow plows enough room to work safely, Etling said.
“Last year, we had someone try to pass a snow plow, hit the plow and then that took that unit out of service,” Etling said.
Plowing will likely continue in St. Clair County until temperatures reach closer to 30 degrees, at least. For the roads to be completely clear down to the pavement, it may take sustained warmer temperatures, but crews have made significant progress clearing the county’s roads already.
In O’Fallon, 80 to 90% of the city’s roads have been plowed at least once, Director of Public Works Jeff Taylor told the BND Monday. Taylor estimated all of the city’s roads would be plowed by the end of the day.
That doesn’t mean O’Fallon’s streets will be completely cleared, though.
“You’re going to have, just with these temperatures, as cold as it is, some snow pack that’s going to be there,” Taylor said, “but we’ll be out throughout the entire week, cleaning up areas and doing additional treatment.”
O’Fallon workers typically only treat snow routes with salt.
“The roads that have been plowed are fairly safe and passable,” Taylor said.
O’Fallon city officials haven’t seen issues recently with motorists hitting snow plows, Taylor continued, but they have had problems with cars parked on the road, making it difficult to plow.
Statewide, the Illinois Department of Transportation has reported eight collisions involving snowplows during the weekend’s winter storm, officials said in a Jan. 25 Facebook post.
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