By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The residential streets in Hays are compacted with ice and snow and likely to stay that way for a while longer.
The blizzard that occurred last week and subsequent below-freezing temperatures "take a toll on a lot of departments," said Toby Dougherty, Hays city manager.
The priority is the emergency snow routes, as designated by city ordinance.
"Our public works department focuses all their efforts on those snow routes to make sure they're open. That typically connects your commerce centers with your schools, businesses and churches, things like that to make sure we have a good network open around the community," Dougherty said.
"In a storm like that that, it takes the majority of their effort to keep those snow routes open, especially when you get the wind blowing," he said.
City commissioners got some questions last week from the public about why residential streets weren't cleared.
Dougherty said it usually only comes up when Hays has received more than 5 or 6 inches of snow.
"We don't typically address residential streets because we don't have the equipment," Dougherty said.
"[With] the amount of time we it takes us on snow routes, by the time we get to a residential street, it would be compacted enough where it would be very inefficient for us to try to address.
"It's basically ice. If there is something to push around, people have typically already shoveled their sidewalks and driveways and our trucks are gonna come back and close those up and be very unhappy with us," Dougherty said.
There were a few residential streets affected by drifts from the blowing north wind "so we would take the grader and/or the loader up there to make sure those streets were passable but that was about it," he said.
The Parks Department is also kept busy clearing the parking lots of city hall, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Parks Department along with the multi-use paths throughout town.
Specialized equipment kept at the Hays Regional Airport is used by airport staff to clean runways, the tarmac and other areas at the airport. If needed, employees of the Water Resources and Public Works Departments are brought in with their snow removal equipment to help.
"It's just kind of all hands on deck," Dougherty said.
Hays received an estimated 8 to 9 inches of snow last Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service, and another inch and a half Thursday night, according to the K-State Agricultural Research Center on the south side of town.
Blowing snow and whiteout conditions contributed to numerous slide offs and traffic accidents on Interstate 70, which closed between the Colorado border and as far east as Abilene at one point during the first storm.
The weather forecast calls for a chance of snow today and below freezing daytime highs through Friday.