Maddening March

Created on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 Written by JOEL E. MAST and MANDY LOEHR

Snow fell hard and wet on Logan County, but advance warnings allowed local crews to prepare for the onslaught.

It also helped that area motorists stayed off the roads.

“By 4 p.m. today,” said Larry Plank, a transportation manager with the Ohio Department of Transportation, “we should be white line to white line on all the roads.”

Todd Bumgardner, general superintendent with the Logan County Engineer’s Office, said, “We actually hit this one pretty good. We sent the guys home early so they could rest up.

“We were back on the roads at 11 p.m. (Tuesday) with 13 trucks.”

Around six inches fell on the county after a wet day Tuesday. The mix led to ice-pack covered by snow.

All of the area schools closed for the day and local government offices had delayed starts. Bellefontaine’s office staff opened at 9 a.m. rather than 8:30 a.m. and the county offices were closed until 11 a.m.

Bellefontaine’s Service-Safety Director James Holycross said Street Department crews started working at 8:30 p.m. and continued through the night. Employees from other service departments joined in and by this morning, the city had 14 people in various pieces of equipment working to remove snow.

“Overnight, they focused on the main roads and then moved into the residential areas,” Mr. Holycross said. “I understand they have begun hitting the parking lots.

“We should be in pretty good shape by this afternoon.”

Mr. Plank said snow fall was heavy at times and crews were unable to keep up with the snowfall.

The local garage has up to 18 plows it can use to clear nearly 500 lane miles of roads.

U.S. Route 33 was wet and all four lanes were clear by 8:30 a.m. There was ice pack on the secondary roads, but nothing the crews couldn’t handle today.

At one point this morning, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office reported that State Route 235 just north of Quincy was impassable and drivers were needing assistance. Another trouble spot for motorists included County Road 5 near U.S. Route 68.

Logan County Sheriff Andrew J. Smith issued a level 1 snow emergency at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, and at 10:50 p.m., upgraded the snow emergency to a level 2 that was still in effect at press time.  

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BELOW

A level 2 emergency means roadways are hazardous with blowing and drifting snow. Roads may also be very icy. Only those who feel it is necessary to drive should be out on the roads.

Even with these conditions, the sheriff said his deputies did not handle any serious traffic incidents overnight.

“We handled some slide-offs and minor crashes,” he said. “We had a pretty successful night.”

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