Tonganoxie city crews used 130 tons of salt treatment during winter storm
Downtown Tonganoxie is covered in heaps of snow Sunday night in the midst of Winter Storm Blair. More than a foot of snow fell in Tonganoxie during the storm.
The snowstorm Jan. 4 and 5 provided a challenge for maintenance crews throughout the state and the region.
In Tonganoxie, the clearing and treating of 68 lane miles of city streets required plenty of work for the public works department, according to Assistant City Manager Dan Porter. The administrative staff member shared some statistics and other information with The Mirror following last week’s storm:
• All public works department staff worked additional time for snow removal and winter storm response.
• 172 total hours of work was completed with nine unique vehicles and equipment in the winter storm response.
• 130 tons of salt treatment was applied to city streets for the entire week. Porter said the city usually uses 20 tons of salt treatment per a standard “winter weather event.”
• The city’s police and fire departments also continued to operate during the worst of the extreme weather conditions and provided extra staffing resources during the winter storm to allow units to be able to respond to multiple incidents at the same time.
• The City Council meeting scheduled for Jan. 6 was canceled due to weather. The next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday.
Porter noted that the latest weather event made weather treatment and snow removal more challenging because of the thick base of ice directly on the pavement surface combined with heavy snowfall and subsequent extreme cold temperatures.
“Thank you to the entire community for your patience and understanding during this extreme winter storm event!” Porter wrote in the email to The Mirror.