Area agencies announce snow procedures

Leavenworth:

With a winter storm warning from the National Weather Service and reports of heavy snow possible Thursday and Friday, the city of Leavenworth is preparing to make transportation routes as safe as possible.

However, residents should be advised that travel could be dangerous. They can assist city crews by removing their personal vehicle from designated snow routes so that city and contract crews can clear the roads.

“We’re expecting a snow fall of 12 inches or more before it ends Friday,” said City Manager J. Scott Miller. “It’s imperative that vehicles along snow routes be removed.”

Miller said once the city declares a snow emergency, vehicle owners may have only two hours to remove their vehicles from snow routes before city crews must clear the roads. Vehicle owners could face having their cars towed at the owners’ expense. A map of the snow routes, in addition to a map of the grids crews use for clearing snow, can be found online at http://www.lvks.org/department/division.asp?fDD=11-102.

The National Weather Service is predicting the heaviest snowfall during the day Thursday. City crews plan to begin pretreating emergency snow routes and a few designated hill streets beginning at midnight Thursday with a mixture of salt and sand.

Once snowfall begins, city crews will work to clear emergency snow routes. Contract crews will work to clear residential routes. Public Works Director Mike McDonald said even with all crews working 12-hour shifts, it could still take time to clear the roads safely. Typically, non-emergency routes in residential areas will get two passes with the snow plows, one going in each direction.
However, with large snow, crews may conduct additional passes through residential streets.

McDonald said crews can begin treating icy roads once the snowfall has been completed.

City trash collection will continue pick up on the holiday schedule unless extreme weather conditions force a delay. If this happens, collectors will begin again on Friday, finishing Wednesday pick-up.
Trash normally collected on Thursday would be collected on Saturday.

With a high snowfall rate of up to one inch of snow per hour, Miller said travel along city streets could still be dangerous. He said the city’s priority was keeping Leavenworth’s main travel routes open and as safe as possible.

Lansing:

Please keep safety in mind when you are out-and-about during snowy and wintery conditions.

It is possible that a city snow emergency will be issued for this event in Lansing.
Citizens can help the city do a quicker and more effective job of treating streets and removing snow and ice by parking their vehicles off all streets immediately, regardless of whether the street is an emergency snow route. Residents are asked to limit their travel to only necessary trips during this storm. On streets marked as emergency snow routes, any vehicle left parked or stranded on the street during a snow emergency is subject to being towed at the owner’s expense. Police will not have sufficient staff and time to try to make personal contact with the owners of every vehicle found parked on a snow emergency route prior to issuing a tow order.

Cul-de-sacs are particularly difficult to clear of snow and ice. City crews are instructed to skip cul-de-sac streets if vehicles are parked in a manner that makes it unsafe, but crews will return when other priorities are taken care of and vehicles have been removed from the cul-de-sac so citizens are asked not to leave vehicles parked in cul-de-sacs.

When clearing a driveway, it is against Lansing city ordinance to deposit the removed snow in the street. Place snow removed from your drives and sidewalks adjacent to the drives and sidewalks.

Residents are asked to remove snow and ice from sidewalks adjacent to your property within 24 hours of the storm event per City Code.

To view the city’s Emergency Snow Route map, go to www.lansing.ks.us, click on the Document Center, then click on Maps and find the Snow Removal Map.

Leavenworth County:

Due to information provided by the National Weather Service and Kansas Highway Patrol, the Leavenworth County Board of County Commissioners is declaring a weather emergency for Thursday. All non-essential county offices — except the Sheriff’s office, EMS, Public Works and Emergency Management — are closed for tomorrow and all non-essential personnel in those offices remaining open are excused as determined by their elected official or department head. County offices will resume normal hours at 8 a.m. Friday.