Mostly cloudy. High around 80F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..
Mostly cloudy with some showers late. Low 64F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Danville Street Department Lead Worker Matt Woelber, left, talks with Patrick Sergent, operations manager with the Danville Public Works Department, about the upcoming snow event at the Danville Public Works garage on Tuesday morning.
City of Danville trucks and snowplows are ready to go.
Danville Street Department Lead Worker Matt Woelber, left, talks with Patrick Sergent, operations manager with the Danville Public Works Department, about the upcoming snow event at the Danville Public Works garage on Tuesday morning.
City of Danville trucks and snowplows are ready to go.
It was fairly quiet at the Danville Public Works Facility on Voorhees Street Tuesday morning, just as it’s been mostly this winter.
But for about the next 72 hours, it is destined to be a hub of activity with the winter storm expected to hit and bring upwards of 15 or more inches of snow for the area.
Local streets and highway crews say they are ready for it.
“We have a 12-hour shift that we can enact; so, we’re going to enact that starting (Tuesday night). So basically, we’ll have crews here around the clock,” said Dave Ruwe, Danville Public Works Department operations administrator.
Starting Tuesday night, crews were ready for the start of icy weather.
“We don’t know for sure how much ice we’re going to get before. The minute it starts getting icy, we’re going to want to get that off the road,” Ruwe said.
He said if normally street-parked vehicles can be moved off roadways, it will help them get the streets cleared.
“It’s also going to be really hard for somebody if they don’t get their car off the road, with that much snow, it’s going to be very hard to get around them and not pile it in,” he said.
If people absolutely can’t take vehicles off the road, they’re asked to all park on one side of the street, so the city has a straight lane to plow.
The Danville Public Works Department prioritized roads to get cleared and stay open first, such as Illinois 1, Gilbert, Fairchild and Main streets. Secondary arterials are streets such as Seminary and Williams.
“Those are the main focus first, to keep those open. And if it’s snowing so much we can’t even keep those open, we won’t leave them until we can keep them open,” Ruwe said.
“But as long as we can kind of keep a lane open each way on those, we’ll try to get into residentials. And what we’ll do then is just do two passes down the middle of every road. A pass in and pass out is what it’s called. And that’s basically just so we can get through everything as fast as we possibly can. And we’ll basically try to keep all that open, hopefully we keep all that open, through the whole storm. And then after it stops snowing, then we’ll go back and clear all the road from curb to curb,” according to Ruwe.
Salt and materials are pretty well stocked and COVID-19 isn’t affecting employees at the moment.
“We should be good for that. We’re not lacking a bunch of people,” Ruwe said.
Another possible scenario with this predicted large amount of snow, as the city has done in the past, it will again truck snow out of the downtown area to other locations such as Ellsworth Park.
“There’s nowhere to put it,” Ruwe said of that much snow in the downtown area.
That wouldn’t be done until the snow has finished and roads are all opened up.
With crew sizes, it takes everyone on hand with A and B teams working the 12-hour shifts, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They have about 20-23 people working per shift. Mechanics also are on hand to fix any truck and equipment problems that arise.
They’re prepared as they can be.
They’ve been talking about preparations since Friday last week, added Patrick Sergent, public works operations manager.
The main thing is if people can stay off the roads; get their cars off the street; and only travel if necessary, they said.
“It gives us the ability to get things done a lot quicker,” Ruwe said.
Vermilion County Engineer Adrian Greenwell said, “We have been performing a final check of all of our trucks and equipment, everything is ready to go.”
“We have been out a handful of times and treated the roads. We have about 2,200 tons of salt and 1,000 tons of sand on hand. We use a salt-sand mix on most of our roads. We have a staff of seven that plow the roads and all will be working.”
Townships also help with salt or salt-sand mix for traction at intersections and other problem areas.
“Unlike the state that can work around the clock we have a small staff and can only work one long shift per day. We try to time when we begin our snow removal operation to try to optimize our efficiency. I want to emphasize that if the forecast is correct, we may experience periods of heavy snow with high winds. These conditions will cause drifting and whiteouts which make travel and snow removal operations very dangerous. Please use caution; travel only if necessary and monitor the news for road closures,” stated Greenwell.
Ameren Illinois reminders for a storm
Call Ameren Illinois at 1-800-755-5000 as soon as possible to report a downed power line, natural gas odor or an outage.
Stay away from downed power lines because these lines may still be energized. During an outage, individuals are asked to stay indoors after sunset because downed lines may not be visible. Stay away from brush, shrubs and fallen trees that may be hiding these lines.
If your electric service is interrupted, unplug or protect sensitive computer and electronic equipment with a high-quality surge protector.
Information on the restoration status of individual outages will be provided directly to customers who have signed up for outage alerts. Ameren Illinois customers without power should call 800-755-5000 to report an outage, log onto the website at AmerenIllinois.com, or report their outage using the mobile phone app.
Real-time outage information is available on the outage map at Ameren.com/outagemap.
Ameren.com also has information about preparing an emergency kit for your home.
Energy-savings tips: 1. Change the direction of your ceiling fans. During the winter, ceiling fans need to run in a clockwise direction. The fan will help spread warm air more evenly around the room. 2. Let the sunshine in and take advantage of heat from the sun by opening window shades and curtains on the south side of your house so those warm rays of sunshine can heat up your home. At night, close the curtains to keep the heat inside. 3. Seal your leaks. Heat from your home can escape and cold air from outside can creep in through any spaces around your doors and windows. Sealing with caulk or weather stripping before any winter weather arrives can save you up to 10% on your energy bill. 4. Get a humidifier. In the winter, the cold weather can make the air in your home very dry. A humidifier puts moisture back into the air, which makes it feel warmer and holds heat better — so you can set your thermostat at a lower temperature and still feel comfortable. 5. Use your fireplace carefully. Be sure to keep your fireplace damper closed unless a fire is burning so your heat doesn’t escape up the chimney. To prevent heat loss when using your fireplace, install tempered glass doors to keep the warm air in, and a heat-air exchange system, which blows the warm air back into the room. 6. Upgrade to a smart thermostat. Install a smart thermostat to save all year round. Ameren Illinois offers a rebate.
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