KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Transportation has crews on standby for when winter weather moves across the metro and other parts of the state.
KDOT crews will be stationed near I-35 and Lamar on Saturday night. They began gearing up for the evening shortly after 9:00 p.m.
The crews pretreated metro-area bridges and elevated areas on Friday in preparation of the storm; however they didn’t pretreat the roads. KDOT’s spokeswoman Kimberly Qualls says that’s because sometimes the treatment will melt and freeze right away turning into ice, and it’s easier for them to just plow away the snow.
On Saturday night the storm had been moving rapidly across the state. Qualls said if you were planning on heading west on I-70 to make sure you book hotel reservations ahead of time.
As of 7:30 p.m. Saturday night, KDOT had closed down I-70 at Hays. This is in part because there are not enough hotel accommodations out that direction and they don’t want people getting trapped out there with nowhere to go.
FOX 4 caught up with some drivers Saturday night who aren’t too thrilled about the winter mix said to be on the way.
“I like snow but it’s just kind of a pain when you’re not in elementary school and getting school days now it’s just kind of dirty and, and in the way,” said driver Nick Heying.
If you plan on heading out Saturday night make sure you call 511 to get the most up to date weather and road conditions.
Earlier coverage:
