With snow and ice forecasted beginning Wednesday evening, City of Wichita officials today announced a new interactive website that allows citizens to track the location of the City’s snow plows.
All 50 of the City’s snow plows are equipped with GPS and will provide real-time data to citizens to determine which streets and areas have been treated.
“This is our latest effort to improve how we respond to snow events and also provide citizens with the information they need to travel safely during these events,” said Alan King, the Director of Public Works & Utilities.
Residents can follow the plows during winter events at www.wichita.gov/snowremoval.
The National Weather Service is forecasting potential snow and ice beginning Wednesday evening, with the possibility of continuing through Saturday morning. In response to this forecast, City crews on Monday began pre-treating emergency priority routes with brine. Brine pretreatment is a solution that assists in loosening ice and snow on roadways, allowing for more effective plowing.
Should significant accumulation occur, City crews will operate all 50 snow plows round-the-clock in an effort to clear the streets. Around 100 City truck drivers and equipment operators will be on standby to work 12-hour shifts should accumulation occur. These crews will first focus on 1,500 lane miles of emergency priority routes, and then will transition to secondary and school routes.
