City, county digging out after winter storm

Both city and county crews are reporting ?normal winter driving conditions? on area roads.

Fairfield Public Works Superintendent Darrel Bisgard cautioned drivers to continue to be careful on hills and at intersections.

The city crew began plowing snow at 7 a.m. Tuesday. The city plowed again and sanded at 3 a.m. Wednesday and plowed again and hauled snow from the square and parking lots at midnight.

The county crew was out plowing at 5 a.m. Wednesday and today.

Both crews are now counting on Mother Nature to help improve conditions.

Bisgard hopes the combination of sand, salt and sunshine will make a difference. At this point, the city has put down a sand and salt mix that Bisgard expects the sun today and warmer temperatures Friday will activate.

State crews, which use an all-salt mix, were pulled off highways Wednesday, but Bisgard said the Fairfield crew kept at it. The city?s mixture of salt and sand adds a little grit to the roadways and stays in place better than straight salt, Bisgard said.

The city closed the Fourth Street railroad crossing Wednesday to prevent people from getting stuck on the tracks. Bisgard said the crossing will remain closed until Burlington Northern Santa Fe is able to clear the tracks.

Bisgard also said the city has received several complaints about snow being pushed into driveways after they have been cleared. Although sorry for the inconvenience, Bisgard said the problem is unavoidable, and the city does not return to clear driveways.

A member of the county?s road crew who had been out plowing this morning said when the wind is blowing as hard as it was Wednesday, the county crew focuses primarily on plowing ? although intersections and stop signs do get treated.

The county driver reported the hard-surface roadways have been cleared of drifts, but are snow packed. Today, the crew is working to remove snow from the county?s gravel roads, some of which are impassible due to 4-foot snowdrifts, he said.

The county crew will continue plowing until 3:30 p.m. or dark and will do the same Friday.

For the complete article, see the Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.