Road crews continue to clear snow and ice from roads

TIPPECANOE CO., Ind. (WLFI) - More than 800 tons of salt have been dumped on roads all across Tippecanoe County since the snow storm hit the area Wednesday morning.

Despite a few hiccups Lafayette Street Commissioner Dan Crowell said they didn't slow crews from getting roads cleared of snow and ice.

"We had a few breakdowns," Crowell said. "We lost the transmission in one of the trucks, but we expect stuff like that. The wind is what really gave us the trouble but once it died down we got a pretty good handle on it."

Crews from West Lafayette, the County Highway Department and Lafayette have been working around the clock to ensure the roads are safe.

 "We started 7 p.m. Christmas day prepping the streets, so we went from seven to seven that morning. We probably went three shifts of guys seven to seven," Crowell said.

"About seven employees around the clock not including me," West Lafayette Street Commissioner Dave Downey said. "Somewhere in the neighborhood in actual plowing about 117 hours and maybe 25, 27 of those are overtime."

County Highway Department Foreman Bryan Walker said crews came in early Thursday because high winds over night were causing snow to drift back into the roadways.

"We put in about 14 or 15 hours yesterday [Wednesday] and then we came in at five this morning and we had some blowing and drifting toward the evening, so this morning we came in early enough to clear those and treat them but there is still snow packed," Walker said.

In West Lafayette Downey said most roads are clear but there are still some slick spots.

"Some of the snow got hard-packed and with this nice weather, the sun shining and a little bit of salt that will start to break up, so we're pushing that slush back so it doesn't refreeze tonight [Thursday]," Downey said.

All the crews said now that they've tackled the first major snow storm of the season they're ready for whatever comes their way.