As snowfall continues in Edmonds Tuesday, the City of Edmonds public works crew says it’s ready for whatever Mother Nature brings — but citizens are encouraged to stay off the roads if possible.
According to Edmonds streets manager Tod Moles, crews so far have used 2,000 gallons of anti-ice, 80 yards of sand and 130 man-hours to prepare for predicted snow and ice. “We will continue to monitor and adjust our response according to what Mother Nature throws at us,” Moles said Tuesday. “We stated our morning with wet pavement, but in just a matter of minutes our parking lot here at public works turned white.”
“We have already planned our crew schedules for the next two day making sure we have people available for a 24-hours response,” Moles added. “It’s really the only way to cover an event like this. Our guys are in good shape and ready for the worst, hoping for the best.”
His advice for residents: ‘If you don’t have to drive….DON’T. It can look like there is nothing at your house, and two blocks away, it’s a white out. Conditions are very fluid and predicting what the roads will be like to travel is impossible.”
According to Moles, so far the city has had to close only one road during the most recent snow and ice — the steep hill at 172nd and Olympic View Drive. “We have one truck out currently and we are going through our gear prepping for the next wave,” he said. The city’s snow route maps have been recently updated and citizens should check them, he said. You can find a link to those maps here.
“I encourage people to be aware of their vehicles ability to navigate these conditions, check their tire tread conditions and stay off the roads if at all possible,” Moles said.
Congrats to the Public Works Crew. You don’t take snow days, leave early when the city closes down, or go home when the weather requires your attention. Keep-up the stellar work we residents have become accustomed too. THANKS
A second to that emotion!!! Thanks to the road crews and Phil Williams. It can’t be easy, and it has to be done! It is appreciated. Thank you.
What Phil Williams and his team does with a snow plow and other weather related tools is just wonderful. Too bad we did not give them a few bucks to do street overlays. Water in the cracks and then freezing does damage to not only the surface but to the substructure. Wait until all this melts and you begin to see new damage on streets that should be in the rotation for overlays. We stopped overlays 4 years ago and some of the streets that would have been done in that time will not likely be the ones that suffer the most weather damage.
If we trust them to do a good job in winter, why don’t we trust them to do a good job in the summer with a little blacktop.