AKRON, Ohio — It’s been another busy day for crews working to clear streets trapped under a blanket of snow and ice after this past weekend's winter storm.
In Akron, concerns began to grown as residents reported a number of streets that remained snow covered days after the storm landed.
"I have this shovel in my car," Amy Schaefer said as she pointed to the shovel in her vehicle's passenger seat. "Yesterday I was stuck for an hour on two different streets."
WKYC crews caught up with Schaefer as she was digging herself out of the streets at her West Akron home near Burlington Rd. A FedEx driver near the same area said he was struggling to get around the area and make deliveries.
"I hope [the roads are cleared] by Thursday because I work in a hospital," said Schaefer. "I have to show up to work. I don’t have a choice. We have to figure it out."
The city of Akron has been responding to the concerns, providing the following list early Tuesday afternoon of the percentage of routes that had been completed:
- 100% of the Primary Routes have been plowed, and will continue to be plowed to prepare for the upcoming forecast.
- 90% of the secondary routes have been plowed, and those will also continue to be completed throughout the day.
- The Main focus is now completing ALL residential streets. So far, 30% of the Residential Routes have been plowed out.
- Overall, the City has completed plowing 60% of our roadways, but we are not down to pavement due to the heavy snowfall and extremely cold temperatures.
- Currently, there are 43 trucks, several pickups, and additional vehicles out servicing the streets and highways
Akron city spokeswoman Ellen Lander Nischt said it's been "all hands-on deck to address the roads" with more than 40 snow plow trucks out to clear the roads since the storm hit on Saturday.
But the city says the process hasn’t been easy.
James Hardy, Akron's chief of staff, said the storm was one of the worst the city has experienced in the past 10 years. With the city’s size of more than 62 square miles, Hardy said crews have a lot of land to cover. The city also shares an “lane-mile” agreement the Ohio Department of Transportation to share the responsibility to clear the expressways within the city limits.
“Obviously on highways and expressways, there’s an increased risk of injury or death as it relates major snow storms and we have worked well with ODOT over the years to prioritize that during major snow events,” said Hardy. “In this case, I think it’s important for folks to know that it certainly had a substantial impact on the pace of moving through all the streets in Akron.”
Nischt said crews covered the expressways and primary roadways on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, crews completed clearing the secondary roads and focused on the residential streets the following day. She said the city hopes to have all residential streets cleared by Wednesday night or early Thursday.
Hardy said he understands the frustration from residents and notes that the city will be reviewing how they handled this year’s storm and what can be done in the future to improve the process.
“We will, as we always do, drill deeply down into what worked, what didn’t and how we can do better,” said Hardy.