Road Clearing Efforts Prove Difficult

Mahaska County Secondary Roads Plow

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The second snowstorm of the season pelted the Mahaska County area this last week, and with it, treacherous driving conditions.

In Mahaska County, the National Weather Service in Des Moines says that portions of the county received seven inches of snow.

In the county, the wet weather that took place over the month of December made the job of removing the ice and snow that much more difficult.

In Mahaska County, the paved roads proved to be less of a challenge, with those being opened up fairly quickly.

Mahaska County Engineer David Shanahan spoke about the difficulty in clearing the rock roads in the county. Shanahan said that since the ground underneath the new snow and ice hadn’t yet frozen, it made the top of the road very slick. The problem being that once the plow breaks through the crust, it then pushes the much needed gravel into the ditches. “It’s hard not tearing everything up and taking all of the rock off the road,” said Shanahan. “Yet you’ve got to get as much off of them [roads] because they’re so slick otherwise.”

For Shanahan, the budget for purchasing salt and sand for the year is doing well, but those rains and the soft gravel roads had the county purchasing extra rock for those roads. “We put more rock on, and rocks very expensive to put on,” said Shanahan. “If you’re not doing one thing because of the weather, you’re doing something else.”

In Oskaloosa, a snow emergency was declared on the 28th, and went into force at 10pm. The purpose of the declaration is to have all vehicles off the city streets to allow plows full access to the roads.

Residents were also reminded to clear their sidewalks, or potentially face a ticket or fee if the city was forced to clear them.

By December 29th, the emergency declaration was lifted, but the roads in Oskaloosa have remained challenging for drivers.