Road maintenance crews across Southeast Missouri will be playing a wait-and-see game as a strong winter weather front descends upon the region Wednesday into Thursday.
Freezing rain and sleet, with the potential for some snow, are predicted to hit the area.
For road crews, unfortunately, the freezing precipitation is expected to be preceded by heavy rain, which prevents them from pre-treating area roads.
“As of right now, we re not planning on putting down any salt brine because it is going to start out as rain and would wash it all away, so it would just be counterproductive,” said Poplar Bluff Street Department Superintendent Jerry Lawson.
Even if rock salt were placed on the roads, Lawson said, “it would be diluted and gone before it would be able to touch that ice.”
Robbie Moore, Butler County Highway Department superintendent, agreed.
“With the rain, we’re not able to put treatment down because it will get washed away,” he said.
For now, Lawson said, it will “just be a waiting game, honestly. All we can do is wait and see how much freezing rain we get before it turns to sleet and hopefully to snow, and go at it from there.”
His crews are preparing equipment for the work ahead, however.
“We are putting everything together and getting everything ready in case we have way more snow than we do ice,” he said.
County crews are doing likewise, Moore said.
Ice, according to both men, is a bigger problem for road crews.
“Ice is one of those things you can’t cut with a blade, and you really just have to wait for mother nature to get sunshine, and then maybe it will start breaking up,” Lawson explained.
“With ice and sleet, there isn’t a whole lot you can do,” Moore added.
Plus, it becomes a safety issue.
“With ice and sleet, it starts getting little bit dangerous for us and the public, so I try to keep what we put on the road (equipment) to a minimum when the ice is on,” Moore said.
Once the precipitation stops and crews begin the task of clearing the roads, Lawson said, they will first concentrate in areas with uphill and downhill intersections.
“On the main thoroughfares, we’ll try to get some pea gravel down,” he added.
Once temperatures rise enough, crews also will put down salt brine, which, combined with sunshine, should start to dissolve any ice and sleet.
Moore believes there may be a break between the sleet and when the ice is expected to arrive, and he plans to use that time for potential road treatments if he can.
“If everything is dry enough between the sleet and the icing, we may try to do a little treatment to combat it a little bit,” he said.
Given the uncertainty about the storm, however, both are simply hoping for the best.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope that we don’t get an enormous amount,” Lawson said.
“We’ll play it by ear, see what takes place and hope for the best,” Moore added.
With the winter weather, the Missouri State Highway Patrol is urging motorists to take precautions.
“Folks need to take time before it hits to get their vehicles winter-weather ready,” said Troop E Public Information Officer Sgt. Clark Parrott.
“They need to make sure their tires are good and they have plenty of fuel, and they should have someone check their hoses and fluids, so if they do get stranded, they can at least cycle their car and stay warm,” he added.
Above all else, Parrott said, drivers should drive defensively, slow down and be courteous to others on the roads.
“Whenever it does start freezing and sticking, people have got to slow down and make sure they’ve got their seat belts on,” he urged.
The importance of slowing down, Parrott said, was seen during a winter weather event across the region a couple weeks ago when I-55 was shut down.
“Every one of those crashes were from people driving too fast,” he explained. “When one slams on their brakes, they start spinning out of control, and before you know it, we’ve got the interstate shut down for 16 hours.”
Four-wheel-drive vehicles, Parrott said, can give some drivers a false sense of security.
“People say ‘I’ve got four wheel drive,’ but four wheel drive also means when you’re on ice, you have a four-wheel slide,” he said.
AAA Missouri also suggests motorists prepare an emergency bag for their vehicles, including items such as a flashlight, basic tool kit, jumper cables, warning devices like road flares, first-aid kit, drinking water and snacks, extra warm clothes, a car charger for cellphones and more.