Big thaw starts; roads still slick
Posted on Tuesday, February 21, 2006
LOWELL - State highway officials warned Monday that dangerous spots still exist on roads despite temperatures climbing into the mid-30 s and ice beginning to thaw from the weekend's winter storm.
Much of the moisture on roads was expected to refreeze overnight, with temperatures in the 20 s, said Robert Darby, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. Melting should continue today with temperatures expected to hit the low 40 s.
"The problem seems to be that the majority of the roads are clear and often dry,"said Randy Ort, an Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman. "So people get a false sense of security and then they find these icy patches."
The region received 2-6 inches of snow Friday night, with Benton County getting the brunt of the storm, and was pelted by freezing rain and sleet throughout the weekend. Several area school districts planned to stay closed today because of icy conditions on bus routes.
Residents who ventured out Monday found that not all the roads were clear.
Arkansas 12, 112 and 264 had been cleared in hilly sections, but the straight sections were packed with ice, said Ron Stanfill, the Highway Department's area supervisor for the western half of Benton County.
Stanfill said his crews, rotating on 12-hour shifts since Friday, used about 1, 000 cubic yards of salt along with magnesium chloride on roads, but it was not enough to melt everything.
"It's just that it's so packed and so deep,"Stanfill said. "It's like a deep freeze out there."
The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport reported several delays on Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines flights Monday afternoon, though airport crews had cleared the runway and taxiway of snow and ice, said Scott Van Laningham, the airport's executive director and chief executive officer.
Passengers should arrive at the airport about 90 minutes before their flight is scheduled to take off and allow extra driving time, Van Laningham said.
"Get here in time to check in,"he said. "One person who flew in a minute ago said everything went fine."
U. S. 62, 71 and 412, Interstate 540 and Arkansas 59 still had patches of ice, especially on overpasses and bridges, according to the Arkansas State Police Road Information line.
Butch Martin, engineer for District 8 of the Highway Department, said crews had to reapply sand and salt after a second round of snow and sleet Sunday.
"Benton County got hit hard Sunday,"Martin said. "We've had to order more salt."
Martin said he'll know later this week how much salt, sand and calcium chloride, a road pretreatment, the department used.
Joe Shipman, engineer for District 4 of the Highway Department, said crews pretreated highways in Springdale and Fayetteville before the storm hit Friday.
Crews have been plowing leftover snow and ice and spreading salt and sand since Friday night, Shipman said.
Most primary highways were expected to be clear by this morning, he said.
"We're making gains, and the weather has helped,"Shipman said.
"Motorists need to remember that without sunshine for a couple days, there'll be slick spots around."
For the Bella Vista Animal Shelter, refreezing caused problems throughout the weekend.
Their concrete area near the dog yard is cleaned and sprayed daily with bleach, but the melting ice froze much of the area and clogged drainage gutters, said Donna Miles, the shelter manager.
"We don't want the dogs to fall down and break a leg. Some think this is great fun, but it makes it harder for us to clean,"she said.
"The dogs are out there ready to wrestle."
The weekend weather left some Northwest Arkansas hotels nearly vacant.
Some customers canceled reservations related to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks' basketball game Saturday, said Chris Smith, assistant manager at the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville.
Stanfill said he was looking forward to a warmer Tuesday, but that his 10-member road crew would continue plowing their 220 miles of road through Tuesday night because of the expected refreezing. "You can really make that stuff fly away during the day, but when the sun goes down, it freezes hard and is like concrete,"he said. "You can't push it."Information for this article was contributed by Michelle Bradford and Charlie Morasch of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff.
To contact this reporter: lboch@arkansasonline. com
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