It's been years since my area has experienced a major winter storm like
the one that came through ten days ago, which dropped thick layers of snow and
sleet on the area. That was followed by a smaller storm five days later which
left several additional inches of snow. Thanks to the layer of sleet and
temperatures too cold for ice-melting chemicals to work things are
still not up to snuff.
Depending on where you live, there are multiple entities responsible for clearing the
roads-the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for interstates and
state routes, St. Louis City or County for large arterial and subdivision streets, Municipal street
departments if the street happens to be inside a city's boundaries, or
commercial companies for private streets.
The small sections I traverse on a regular basis are probably better than
most, although there is one left turn lane on a major road that still has a
thick layer of ice on it. The plows moved the snow off
the main driving lanes, but pushed it off to the side such that on-street
parking is impossible. And the sidewalks are also covered with that same
pushed off snow so you have to take your chances walking along the
reduced-width street. There has been some thawing and refreezing,
which makes that walking quite dangerous.
Once the roads were clear potholes started popping up in the streets, some of
them large enough to damage the car's wheels or alignment. All I can do is try to
watch where I'm driving and hope there's not a car in the other lane if I have to swerve quickly.
A third issue is in parking lots, where the plows concentrated on removing
snow off the driving lanes and pushing the snow into piles and around the
perimeter. Now there are tall piles of snow partially blocking many of the
parking spaces. Most lots have so many spaces unavailable people are getting aggressive trying to park their vehicle.
It's supposed to get substantially above freezing over the weekend, which
should allow a lot of the snow to melt. I can't wait!
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