NBC 4 Questions Officials After Messy Commute
COLUMBUS, Ohio —Wednesday’s rush hour drive was stop and go for most drivers trying to travel through several inches of snow.
Snow covered the interstates, city and county roads, making the commute long and stressful. Many NBC 4 viewers had questions about the snow clearing efforts, wondering why the roads weren’t clear.
“I think your own meteorologist said it would be snowing for virtually 12 hours. So you clear a road and it covers right over it again and you clear it and it covers right over it again,“ said Mary Carran Webster, of the City of Columbus.
Webster said the city did the best it could and its snow warriors will continue to work 12-hour shifts through Saturday.
Crews are working to clear residential streets, but said it will take two days to complete and you will not see bare pavement.
“We were prepared for it. We focused on clearing, but when snow continues to fall, it continues to fall. We continued to use our resources, plowing and salting and that didn’t let up,“ said Nancy Burton, of ODOT.
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Reader Reactions
Of course I pay taxes for services, twice actualy, first on my income and then the real estate tax. My whole point was that city of Columbus services, other than public safety, suck. Not because the plowers don’t know how to plow or trash men can’t pick up the trash, but because of management. We have a joke for a mayor, an inarticulate, out of touch idiot, who has appointed such fine people to supervie these services. If you want your streets plowed, move to UA.
I’m not coming down on the ‘plowers’ but on the ‘powers that be.‘ I am tired of see the news say that the ‘snow warriors’ are out there….I do no see them! Surely we do have much larger problems in this world, but if we are supposed to keep the economy moving, then we need to keep traffic moving. I’ve lived in Cleveland, New Hampshire, and Bellville and traffic moved better with more snow than Columbus. I pay taxes for services..do you? Does anyone know how much a plower gets paid per hour?
The rail? Hmmmmm…who has $$?
My comment on mediocrity was aimed towards the planning, not the drivers…They are blue collar humps just like me, just doing their job.
I think the men and woman who were out clearing roads did the best job that could be done. First of all the snow was stilling coming down while they are out there trying to make it as safe a drive for everyone out there. Then of course there is the price jump for salt and brime and everything that goes into clearing the roads. When I went to sleep last night I saw a small plow truck and when I was up at 5:30 am he was still out there. I stopped him and offered him coffee as well as if just needed to get warm he could stop in. I appreciate all these people do to such a hard job and do it the best they can under certain circumstances. So Thanks to all of you Snow Plowers!! You did a Great Job.
Are we serioudly complaining about the one or two days a year we are inconvenienced by the weather? With all of the recent reports about salt prices and the budget crunch we are in, I fully expected less crews on the road and less product used, and planned accordingly. This is not a situation where we have come to expect great outcomes, so why the surprise and angry reactions? It’s normally a mediocre job of clearing and salting, so with everything else added in, what did people expect. Get a grip—there are worse problems in the world than a long commute.
IF we were a “BIG” city like the previous blogger said, we would have a light rail system which would eliminate the need for driving. But y’all keep knocking that idea down. So I don’t think you have much to complain about on the roads.
So driving home last night was a real experience - I did see a plow though - at the corner of Front and Broad - plow up and not wasting salt - just driving probably back to the barn. Only plow I saw on my 2.5 hour commute to Reynoldsburg. But things did look better when I got into Reynoldsburg proper - can you believe it 3 trucks gang plowing - maybe Columbus should ask little old Reynoldsburg for some help, or maybe Coleman thinks gang plowing means an increase in graffiti.
Every single winter - the same old response from webster - I live in Columbus in the Sharon Woods area and there are seldom plows or salt crews here….it’s ridiculous. Some of us CANNOT stay home. We need new, fresh, intelligent administrators to assist us. We’re a BIG city and this is really embarrassing. Every year - same old, same old. Webster, find another job!
I think the city and state crews did a great job of getting the main streets as clear as possible. People have to realize that it was snowing the whole time of the evening commute. Also, the roads were full of cars. I had to go from downtown, to Grant, then Livingston and then finally I-70 East. The whole trip was was full of commuters going 5 mph on streets and 15-20 mph on the interstate. A salt truck/snow plow can’t go any faster than all the traffic around them. If drivers can’t be a bit patient, slow down and realize that it takse time AFTER the snow has stopped to clear roads…....STAY HOME!
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