Wichita public works crews are getting ready to deal with winter weather conditions, making sure that the snow plows are ready with a supply of salt and sand for the streets.
Mayor Brandon Whipple said the city has eight brine trucks to pre-treat roadways, and there are more than 70 snow plows. He said the city is above its minimum staffing levels with 148 drivers, but the city is welcoming applicants with CDL licenses to maintain staffing.
Whipple said the city has 6,000 tons of salt-sand mix on hand, and there are 14,000 tons of sand in reserves to make more mix as needed.
Streets will be treated by priority, starting with 1,500 lane miles of emergency routes with special attention to major traffic routes serving hospitals, emergency facilities and schools. The next priority is secondary arterial streets and school access streets. KDOT crews will be responsible for the federal and state highways, including Kellogg, Interstates 135 and 235, and K-96.
The city will have a feature on its web site at wichita.gov/snowremoval allowing people to track snow plow activity during winter storms. Snow plows will have creative names this year and the active plows can be identified on the web site. Some of the names for snow plows are Darth Blader, EisenPlower, Mr. Sandman, Icy-T and Ctrl Salt Delete.
