The Cincinnati city administration is promising everything will be done to make the streets safe after Monday morning's snowfall. Many places in the area reported receiving two to four inches of snow.
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley says everything will be done to clear city streets as soon as possible but he is warning that Tuesday could be worse.
Colder temperatures Monday night are expected to re-freeze anything that melts during the day, creating icy streets.
“Tomorrow morning, the roads, even though they won’t have snow on them, could be more dangerous,'' Cranley says. "And we’re doing everything in our power to make it less so. But the winter is the winter and the weather is the weather and we want people to be careful,” he says.
Jerrod Bolden with Public Works says “what we’re trying to do is make sure we get to our residential (streets) to try to get that cleared off before those temperatures drop too far tonight and freeze up.”
Cranley says the city's budget includes a "historic" amount of money for snow removal in anticipation of a long, cold, snowy winter.
Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black says public works crews started pre-treating streets on Friday and worked through the weekend.
“Based on the winter that we had for most of the country last winter, salt supply is low nationwide," Black says. "Obviously we believe we’ve got ample salt as of right now but we’re constantly monitoring the marketplace to see where there might be opportunities for us to acquire additional salt just to be on the safe side."
“We’ve got plenty to start the winter and to get us through most of the winter,” Black says.
A ton of salt last year cost the city about $64. This year, it's going for almost $76 per ton.
