Better weather, cooperation bring more plowing progress after Wednesday’s blizzard
Sunshine and help from two important sources helped crews catch up on plowing roads and streets in Colorado Springs and El Paso County after Wednesday’s blizzard.
The sun helped to melt some of the snow and ice that were particularly troublesome in the north and east sections of the area.
During a Thursday morning media briefing, officials asked citizens to avoid driving until crews can effectively plow roads and streets.
Plowing was nearly impossible Wednesday, officials said, because of limited visibility from wind-driven snow and because of hundreds of disabled vehicles in traffic lanes, medians and intersections.
Officials asked people to avoid going out and trying to reclaim their vehicles.
“If people do that, and if people are driving around, the roads will just get more congested and it’ll take even longer to plow,” said Jim Reid, the county’s director of emergency management. “We’re getting help from towing companies that will move vehicles aside and clear the way for plowing. That’s going to be expensive but we’ll deal with it later. We’ve got to get roads and streets clear.”
On Voyager Parkway, an especially problematic area for crews, most of the disabled vehicles were gone, except for two — one being towed by a tow truck, and the other that the owner tried to move himself.
“I understand the concept, but you know, everybody wants their vehicle now,” said Kyle Doughty, a driver with M & S Towing. “They don’t want their car sitting here as long as they can. I know every tow company in town is backed up for quite a while.”
The owner of the other car said he was told to move it by 2 p.m Thursday — despite a request to the contrary at the morning briefing.
Nathan Amburgey helped the owner free the vehicle. Amburgey said it was the eighth driver he had helped that day.
“People are here trying to get their cars out, anyway,” he said. “If there’s not people at the vehicle, I’m not going to touch it. But if they’re out there trying to get it out anyway, I may as well try to help them out as much as possible. I actually have a set of chains in my truck, just in case I got stuck, so I’m not adding to it.”
Officials said they’ll respond to some neighborhood streets to remove deep snowdrifts and ice as soon as primary and secondary roads are cleared.
Although officials didn’t address the matter Thursday, there was an underlying frustration about so many people being out in the blizzard that was expected several days in advance.
