Short-lived lull in winter storms gives crews a small break

Six days of snow can give even snowplows a hard time.

Tammy McQuitty saw it in her neighborhood.

“One guy came up here, and ended up getting stuck in front of our house,” she said. “Another plow had to come up and pull him out and then they left, they didn’t finish plowing. It’s an adventure! Trying to come up this hill is quite a challenge.”

Though McQuitty admits she has a game plan.

“When you get right here where it starts to curve up, you better accelerate,” she said. “That’s the only way is to accelerate, if you stop, you’re gonna get stuck.”

And the Colorado Springs Streets Division admits this has been a tough week.

“They are tired, they are beat to death with work. But they live here, their families travel the roads just like everyone else’s do,” said Michael Hensley, with the Colorado Springs Streets Division. “They have a personal investment.”

Those crews have been working non-stop since last Saturday and have had some successes.

“We’re still cleaning up our primary routes and will slowly be moving into residential areas,” he said.

But the biggest battle now is the bitter cold. Some of the treatment crews use isn’t as effective with single-digit temperatures.

“The lulls that we have, right now hopefully give us an advantage,” Hensley said. “But the temperatures are slowing down the chemical reaction.”

But that advantage is short-lived with more light snow and freezing occurring Friday night.