Crews clearing roadways, but progress is slow

UPDATE: With sunny skies and subsiding winds, officials in charge of road-clearing operations in the Corridor say their crews are beginning to get the upper hand. But it will be the weekend before area motorists see much pavement.

“We're progressing very well today,” Linn County Engineer Steve Gannon said late this morning. “If people would stay home another day we'll be in pretty good shape.”

Plow operations resumed in both Linn and Johnson counties early this morning. As Wednesday's high winds subsided overnight, most paved routes remained open, allowing drivers to concentrate on gravel routes.

“We're gaining, the sun's shining,” said Kevin Hackathorn, secondary road maintenance superintendent in Johnson County. “We should at least get everybody out today.”

Gannon and Hackathorn expected all rural roads in both counties to be opened for at least one-way traffic by late afternoon.

In Cedar Rapids, workers from the sanitary sewer and forestry divisions helped clear residential streets. The Public Works programs were consolidated in 2007.

“If we go back three years ago that staff wouldn't have participated like they did today,” said Craig Hanson, public works maintenance manager. “They all now work for the same boss. We did very well with teamwork today.”

All residential streets should be plowed Thursday. Hanson said some streets on the south end of town we-reopened after Wednesday's high winds drifted them shut.

In Iowa City, “by early evening we'll have everything passable,” said assistant streets superintendent John Sobaski. He said crews won't work overnight, after working since 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Iowa City crews will “touch up” residential streets Friday, clearing areas where cars were parked today.

Compliance with Cedar Rapids' residential snow emergency was “mixed,” according to Hanson.

“We have some residents very upset with their neighbors,” he said.

The rule remains in effect from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday: Residents on unposted city streets should park on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses to allow plowing along the opposite curb.

Crews are set to begin removing windrowed and piled snow from downtown Cedar Rapids. Hanson expects 600 truckloads to be hauled away by morning.

Hackathorn said a dozen to 20 abandoned vehicles have been towed from Johnson County roads. Paved routes are clear but icy slick and will stay that way until the weather warms - maybe Saturday, when highs are predicted in the mid-twenties.

“There's still a lot of hard-packed snow and ice, so they're slick, but you can travel on them,” Hackathorn said. “The sun will help, but what we need to do is get back and get on them with our blades.”

Salt and most de-icing compounds aren't effective below about 15 degrees, although brine solutions can help a bit, Gannon said. Crews are spreading sand at intersections to provide a little traction. The county also has a few rotary machines designed to clear gravel roads that can be used to grind small areas down to pavement.

“I think things will be back to normal by midday tomorrow,” Gannon said. “But we're not suggesting you're not going to need to schedule additional time to get where you're going.”

“The sun does a lot of good,” said Gretchen Gresslin, Iowa Department of Transportation district maintenance manager in Cedar Rapids. “We can try and scrape it off” with plows mounted beneath the boxes of plow trucks.

Gannon was at an engineers' conference in Ames when the storm hit and drove home this morning on Highway 30.

“Pretty much ice all the way,” he said.

State and county crews will work until dark, then return early Friday.

“When it's this cold we won't make much headway after dark,” said Gresslin. “We'll certainly keep at it all day long.”

The Iowa State Patrol has lifted the tow ban previously in place for many Eastern Iowa highways.

The ban is now lifted for all interstate and state highways in Scott, Cedar, Muscatine, Clinton, Jones and Jackson counties. A ban remains in place for Linn and Johnson counties.

"Private vehicles cannot stop or back on the traveled portion of the road to pull other vehicles out of the ditch," State Patrol Trooper Dan Loussaert said in a news release. "Please call a tow company if you cannot get your vehicle out safely."

The Iowa Department of Transportation says difficult driving conditions remain in many areas. See updated Eastern Iowa road conditions HERE

Minor accident on I-380

A minor accident in the southbound lanes of Interstate 380 caused a bit of a traffic delay around 7 a.m.

No one was injured.

Frigid temperatues

Frigid temperatures iced the Upper Midwest on Thursday as a massive storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in several states from Iowa to New England neared the end of its cross-country trek.

Commuters from Des Moines to Chicago were warned of morning temperatures reaching 10 degrees at best and icy roads. Wind chill values could dip to as low as minus 25 in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, according to the National Weather Service.

"It's already very cold across the entire region," said Casey Sullivan, a weather service meteorologist in Romeoville, Ill., adding that parts of northern Illinois may hit only 2 degrees.