Kent city street crews will de-ice and sand streets as needed Thursday night and Friday morning as freezing temperatures are expected to turn any moisture on roads to ice.
But city officials don’t anticipate closing any roads as they did Thursday morning after a couple of inches of snow covered many Kent streets.
“We faired pretty well,” said Bill Thomas, city street superintendent, in a Thursday phone interview. “We’ve had crews out 24 hours a day since (Wednesday) and will continue that tonight.”
Three roads were closed part of Thursday, including the James Street hill (South 240th Street from Central Avenue to 104th Avenue Southeast); the Garrison Creek hill (South 218th Strett from 98th Avenue South to 88th Avenue); and the “old” South 208th Street (from 92nd Avenue South to 96th Avenue).
“All of the other streets stayed open with a minor interruption on South 277th because of an accident,” Thomas said.
Crews will use de-icer spray tonight to try to limit the amount of ice on streets, Thomas said. Roads less traveled and in shady areas are the most likely to have ice.
“And we will apply sand on corners and at intersections,” he said. “There are probably at least two more nights when we will need at least a skeleton crew but we will not need the full force.”
The city had all eight of its snowplow trucks out Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Seven of those trucks also have sanders and one truck has a de-icing tank.
“We used every piece of equipment for this event,” Thomas said.
The National Weather Service predicts a high of 34 and low of 20 for Thursday followed by a high of 32 and low of 21 on Friday. Temperatures are predicted to be 37 and 34 on Saturday.
“After (Friday’s) commute we will dry out more,” Thomas said.
For street closure information, go to www.drivekent.com.
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