St. Louis is piloting a new protocol to plow and salt streets and preparing a thousand emergency shelter beds ahead of dangerously cold weather this weekend.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning effective midnight Friday to Sunday evening predicting total snow accumulation between five and 10 inches with subzero wind chill. The warning states travel may be “very difficult to impossible.”
Mayor Cara Spencer said during a briefing Thursday that the new protocol starts with treating 450 miles of high-priority routes, followed by residential streets immediately afterward. Spencer said this protocol aims to avoid a repeat of last January’s storm that left side streets icy for more than three weeks.
“We do not anticipate being able to get to everyone's street right away,” Spencer said. “It is our intention to start opening up those thoroughfares once we get those primary snow routes done.”
Streets Department Director James Jackson said the city aims to have all main roadways open in 48 to 72 hours.
“Our residential streets are going to be a major consideration for us this year and this season,” Jackson said. “On the outside chance we have a situation where an ice event is developing, we will throw all resources towards that ice event to ensure that we don't find ourselves in a situation that we can't break up out of.”
Jackson says crews have already started pretreating roads with salt and magnesium chloride, which is more effective in colder weather. Jackson explained that magnesium chloride loses its effectiveness between zero and 10 below zero Fahrenheit but is more effective than rock salt in teens and single-digit temperatures.
“Once we get [to] 10 [degrees] and above, that's when it's going to start melting," Jackson said, "and that's when we're going to start asking for the public's patience to allow nature to take her course.”
Expanded emergency shelters
St. Louis is adding 600 new emergency winter beds for a total of 1,000 across the city starting during the day Friday through at least Monday.
The city also plans to send out warming buses and meet with residents throughout the city to transport people to warming centers and connect them with resources. Warming centers that would typically close during the day will remain open this weekend.
Adam Pearson, director of the St. Louis Department of Human Services, said the city is working with community partners like Gateway 180 and the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis to expand access to shelter and other resources throughout the city.
“Anybody who is interested in seeking shelter should seek shelter,” Pearson said. “It's too cold outside this weekend to take any chances, and so we do have options available, calling on everybody to come inside if they can.”
The St. Louis City Continuum of Care estimates a total of 1,950 people were without homes in St. Louis at the end of December, including 560 people who were chronically homeless. The city announced a major investment in winter sheltering in October to support people displaced and unhoused by the May 16 tornado, including expanded emergency housing and the return of warming buses this winter after a two-year hiatus.
MoDOT asks people not to drive
At a Thursday afternoon press conference in Jefferson City, both the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Missouri Department of Transportation urged people to stay off the roads for personal safety and help plow drivers work effectively.
“This is a little bit different than our usual safety messages. It’s (usually), ‘Hey stay home if you need to,’” said Capt. Scott White, public information and education director for the Highway Patrol. “Right now, we're saying please do not travel.”
If people must drive, they should prepare ahead of time with a full gas tank, charged phone and winter survival kit, White said.
“Nobody believes that they're going to be the one that will end up in a ditch or be the driver that ends up in a crash,” White said. “But what they forget about is being stuck in a traffic backup for six hours or dealing with a road closure that doesn't have any good detours.”
With lots of snow, White said help can take longer to arrive.
MoDOT announced its team of 3,000 people will be deployed across the state, working two shifts per day until the snow is cleared.
“We're going to need people to experience some patience here as we get through the storm,” said MoDOT Director Ed Hassinger, who added it may be well into next week before roads are cleared.
Both Hassinger and White acknowledged their departments are still understaffed, and employees will be working around the clock.
“We are putting every person that we have available in a truck this weekend,” White said. “12-hour shifts until we're done.”
In such cold temperatures, chemical treatments are more effective in metropolitan areas than rural ones. MoDOT has provided extra plow training for St. Louis streets department employees.
Also for the St. Louis area, MoDOT is piloting an updated traveler information map that, for the first time, will show if interstate on- and off-ramps have been cleared.
The heaviest snowfall will likely be south of the Interstate 70 corridor, but the whole state will see snow, said Melissa Delia of the National Weather Service in St. Louis.
Delia added better predictions will likely be available Thursday night or Friday morning.
“But there may still be lingering uncertainty as we head into the storm, which is why it's so important for folks to listen to the safety messaging,” Delia said.
Delia also warned the weekend’s snow may stop and start, meaning people should continue to pay attention to the forecast before deciding it’s safe to drive.
This story has been updated with information from MoDOT, the National Weather Service in St. Louis and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
