It may look and feel like Spring some days, but as Missourians know, weather can change in an instant! So, if winter weather strikes again this season, St. Charles County residents and travelers can access snow removal information about roads maintained by the St. Charles County Highway Department in real time. The department has launched a new snow route progress map now available online to the public.
“We implemented Global Positioning System (GPS) on our plow trucks to help with managing our snow removal operations, which also enables the public to track our progress,” says John Lyons, County Engineer. “We hope this helps the public make safe decisions about timing and alternate routes when they need to travel during winter precipitation.
The map, available at sccmo.org/SnowRouteMap, shows roads the County Highway Department is responsible for maintaining and is color coded to indicate when the road was last serviced: within 0-6 hours appears in green, 6-12 hours in yellow, and 12 or more hours in red.
The St. Charles County Highway Department plows approximately 1,400 lane miles of unincorporated county roads and another 400 lane miles of roads for the cities of Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Flint Hill, Foristell, Josephville, Portage Des Sioux, St. Paul, Weldon Spring and West Alton. Crews work day and night in 12-hour shifts, as necessary, to clear the roads, but with current staffing shortages, it may take longer to clear streets during larger snow and ice events than to what residents are accustomed.
“This map will assist us in answering questions from residents about roads they want to travel,” Lyons says. “Rather than trying to reach someone in the Highway Department, and especially after office hours, they can find this real time information online.”
For more information, email highway@sccmo.org or call 636-949-7305.