Winter budget stays on track despite snows

    Southeast Iowa has been able to escape the brunt of the torrential snowstorms that have hammered other parts of the state. The state has been hit by two major snowstorms in the month of December. A blizzard swept across the state in the second week of December which forced the cancellation of the Washington schools for three straight days. A second blizzard hit last week and made travel extremely difficult, especially in western Iowa.

    Iowa Gov. Chet Culver announced that four western Iowa counties will be able to use state snow-moving crews to help clear roads, following a disaster proclamation the governor issued last week, according to the Associated Press. The four counties are Crawford, Harrison, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) spokeswoman Dena Gray-Fisher said Wednesday there are areas in western Iowa with 20 inches of snow on the ground.

    One of the issues road maintenance officials have to worry about over the winter is running out of salt. Greg Johnson, who works in the maintenance and construction department for the city of Washington, said the city began the year with 200 tons of salt. It has used 60 tons of salt to date. Johnson added that the city has been able to manage the budget for snow removal. He said the city has had to pay some maintenance workers overtime but other than that it has been a typical winter thus far.  

    The city of Washington typically applies salt to the road when the temperature is between 32 and 20 degrees. When temperatures fall below 20 degrees, the city adds calcium to the mix. In extremely cold environments when there is no hope of melting the ice, city officials will add sand. The sand provides traction to motorists who may otherwise slip and slide across the roadway.

To read the full article, see the Dec. 30 print edition of the Washington Evening Journal.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.