'Saggy eyes' means drivable winter roads

By early Friday afternoon, Liberal area drivers received a break from mother nature. The roads started to dry up and many wheels stopped sliding. The brown, dirty snow was pushed off to the side, and the city's road crews were tired.

"Those guys might be (tired)" Joe Sealey, city public works director, said jokingly. "Some of them probably are a little saggy eyed, but we've been through it before."

When it snows heavy, 12 to 13 city road workers per shift operate the city's fleet of snow-clearing machinery including: road graders, front end loaders, bobcats and dump truck, loaded with snow plows.

Right at the end of January, the National Weather Service recorded 4 inches of snow in Liberal.

A city road crew member drives a front loader along 2nd Street during the late-January winter storm. Road crews have been recently working around the clock clearing the streets for Liberal area drivers. Photo by Tony Hernandez

Those 4 inches were the most snow accumulated in January in three years. The National Climatic Data Center recorded 5.6 inches of total snow in January 2007.

The weather service recorded 2.5 inches during Thursday's winter storm. In just the first few days of February, Liberal has reached the most snow accumulated for this month in the last five years. Still, the two recent snow storms pale in comparison to last March's blizzard that brought in 14.5 inches, according to the data center.

Oklahoma has recently suffered far worse than Kansas. The same winter storm that hit Liberal in January is expected to cost Oklahoma $4.2 million and 35,000 hours, according to the state's department of transportation.

The cost to removing snow from the streets this year has remained within budget, Sealey said. According to its 2009 budget, the city allocated $20,000 per year for snow plowing. An additional $15,000 in 2009 and 2008 for snow removal supplies.

The city allocated $5,000 for overtime in 2009. According to a recent treasurer's report, the city also has $238,315 in reserves for snow removal.

"We budget for it every year," Sealey said. "If we don't use that budget in that time period, we roll it into the next year budget. Barring a total disaster for the rest of the year, I don't foresee any problems in either material or time expenditures."

Despite their saggy eyes, Sealey said the city's unsung road heros are ready for more snow expected on Sunday.

For full story please see Sunday's Times

© 2008 Southwest Times