Snowplows pushing the clock
Fort Wayne Street Department crews will work through the night to combat the latest snow fall.
Early Wednesday morning more than 40 trucks were plowing throughout the city, and tonight that has increased to 50 trucks.
“It's been difficult to keep up because it's been a constant snow fall since seven o'clock this morning. Area schools let out early and there was a lot of traffic out-and-about this afternoon. That slowed us slightly, but still we made good progress on the main thoroughfares,” said Brad Baumgartner, Fort Wayne Street Commissioner.
As long as the snow is still falling crews will continue to work on the main thoroughfares. By 4:30 this afternoon many of these priority streets had been plowed two or three times, as snow continued to fall.
The City's main thoroughfares are Priority 1 streets and are designated as the top priority because they are important to emergency vehicle travel. Priority 2 streets are the connector streets that run between two Priority 1 streets. Priority 3 streets are those in residential areas.
“This was a pretty significant snow fall with a lot of accumulation. We are anxious to get into residential neighborhoods, and we're hopeful that our third shift will be able to get into some of the neighborhoods overnight,” said Baumgartner.
Fort Wayne has more than 1200 miles of street to maintain. The City has an ample supply of salt for this latest storm. Still, the Street Department has been hit hard this winter and has ordered more salt twice so far this winter. Today the City placed an order for 1900 tons of salt.