NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The warm weather has played a major role in getting ice and snow cleared around the mid-state. Dangerous back roads led to families unable to leave their houses for over a week.
Officials from the Nashville Department of Transportation recently faced Metro Council to explain why their response was delayed in some areas.
NDOT's Phillip Jones said they have a very good snow and ice removal program that works effectively on primary and secondary routes, which is the objective. He said within the first 48 hours of the main snowfall, those streets were cleared.
The main issue then became the back roads not getting cleared. Jones said the time frame to get to the back roads is just too long. NDOT crews have 5,800 miles of road they care for and last week 1,800 miles, their primary and secondary routes, were prioritized.
Jones said what stopped them from clearing neighborhood streets was the need to get their trucks to emergencies instead. The fire trucks needed help on back roads so their efforts were focused there instead.
HubNashville took thousands of requests to plow streets, but many of those went unanswered. From this, Jones said they plan to do things differently next time a winter storm comes through.
They'll also have new equipment next time around.
37 new trucks will replace current trucks which will provide three additional routes covering 60 miles, in addition to the 1,800 primary miles. Of the new trucks coming in, NDOT has only received one. They'll be getting the rest over the next coming months.
"There were thousands of people on tons of hills who had no access to anything," said councilmember Emily Benedict. "There was no plan or no organizational means to tackle our neighborhood streets," said councilmember Russ Bradford.
"What we ran was mostly emergencies after that point. A lot of Hub requests come in that we tried to get to where we had either serious urgent matters or a lot of cars, a lot of issues," said Jones. "What it would take to run that brush route is the matter of having enough trucks to run it and enough material, which is housing enough salt to do that."
It's truly the small things that add up to a great day - and Warrick in Lebanon is having a big impact. His familiar face is becoming a staple in one part of the community and inspiring closer connection in the simplest way. Enjoy his warm personality! You may even feel inclined to wave to a stranger today, too.
-Rebecca Schleicher
