COLLINSVILLE, Ill. — A winter storm has made driving difficult across the Metro East, but IDOT believes a break in the storm could provide the window they need to clear the roads before the next band of snow.
At B&K Towing in Collinsville snow in the forecast always means one thing.
“It means the phone rings off the wall,” said B&K Towing owner Brad Kneedler.
Kneedler said B&K started responding to slide off calls before 6 a.m.
“We can only keep up with a very little bit at a time,” said Kneedler.
Unfortunately, IDOT snowplows were involved in two minor accidents which temporarily kept them from clearing the road.
“That little bit of change certainly made us adjust on the fly this morning,” said IDOT District 8 engineer Joseph Monroe.
Monroe said the problem to this point isn’t with slippery roads, but people passing plows.
“The front of that plow sticks out much further than you would anticipate,” said Monroe. “It’s typically a 11 to 12-foot plow, so if you figure it’s articulated it probably sticks out a good 8 feet past the bumper of the truck itself.”
Despite the cold temperatures salt is still working in some areas.
“We have to be careful to make sure we get to bare pavement, but we don’t have chemical down that will unnecessarily catch the blowing and drifting,” said Monroe.
“That’s definitely what we dread is the ice,” said Kneedler. “It’s twice as hard to commute.”
With that in mind if you have to drive, and see a snow plow, Monroe has some advice.
“That’s the Willy Wonka golden ticket right there,” said Monroe. “You stay behind that truck, it may be slower than you’re going slower than you like, but I promise you the pavement behind that plow is much better than the pavement in front of the plow.”