Why the Brine Didn’t Help
By: Mr. Wilson on
December 4, 2008
The city normally lays down the mixture, which acts as an anti-ice agent, on arterial streets and bridges each Wednesday and Thursday. However, the city didn’t apply the solution last Thursday because of Thanksgiving, Tiedeman said. And although the city did lay down the mixture over bridges on Tuesday, rain and snow flurries over the weekend had washed the solution off of the the arterial streets.That's not going to help Public Works's image any. Besides, they make a great scapegoat. I wasn't on the roads -- my morning commute is a 20-second walk -- but I've been around long enough to know how easy it is to laugh off a puny snow like we had. All it takes is one "It's not so bad!", a small hill, and a quick brake light in front of your car, and BAM! It is much easier to lay the blame on a faceless government body than to admit to driving improperly in the conditions. That's not to let off Public Works free and clear. You can't lead the public to believe a certain amount of prevention is going on, skip a week, then cross your fingers and hope nobody notices without getting called on it. This tiny little event -- and it is tiny -- is nowhere near the level of boobery that surrounded the infamous New Year's fiasco of a couple years ago. But there is a striking similarity in that crews napped on a holiday and a weather event forced an unflattering spotlight upon them. I don't want to pay overtime if I don't have to, so I'm not suggesting that City crews work a regular shift, holidays be damned. But if the brine solution could have prevented many of yesterday's accidents, then it should have been applied before or after the Thanksgiving holiday. On the other hand, if the brine solution would not have been effective at preventing many of yesterday's fender-benders, making last Thursday's missed application a non-event, just what good is it?
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In my commute there were spots that were just wet and then spots that were black ice. Around 30th and West O it was a skating rink but 40th and 48th were okay. The icy spots seemed to be areas where the wind swept directly over them.
When a Honda Civic can’t get going at a flat and level intersection, you have to have that alarm go off in your head saying “take it easy”. But I saw drivers going like it was a summer day.
Old Cheney road was a nightmare from Highway 2 to 98th Street. All ice, and hills. It’s always that way. They should know by now.
I don’t feel like giving them a pass at Public Works. They’ve been so busy patting themselves on the back for coming up with this great plan, that to skip it for a week is pointless. What about last Wednesday or Friday if they were off on Thursday?
OR - how about, since they knew they had missed a week, that they watch the TV news or Weather Channel - everyone got this forecast right - precip, under an inch of snow, and very slick roads. Wouldn’t have taken a genius to get on the streets on Tuesday if they watched the forecast.
It’s our money. They are accountable to us. They’ve wasted several weeks worth of effort and product. If they are going to have a plan, they need to think it through. No one there realized that Thanksgiving would be on a THURSDAY this year? Give me a break.
Christmas and New Year’s are both on Thursdays this year as well.
I don’t blame people for being annoyed if the city could have easily done better.
They also need to shoulder the blame. If they had not made such a big deal about how they were (air quotes) preventing the very thing that happened the failure would not have upset the motoring public.
The LJS reported that they skipped using the brine last week because of Thanksgiving, thus the last brine was useless from two weeks ago. They did get to some bridges though. The Rosa Parks Way bridge into downtown is usually the first place to ice up, and it was absolutely fine. This was due totally to the brine because there was nothing else on it when I drove it. I know the rest of the city was horrible, but this brine actually works, if they use it.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.
Tom, I agree with you. I do.
The stupidity in this case is that the “do” was early in the season for several weeks when it didn’t seem to yet be needed, and the “don’t” was that they didn’t follow their own game plan and got caught with their pants down by a storm that was forecast to be exactly what it was.
I’m a little bit…furious.
I take the exit off West Van Dorn onto Hwy 77 every day. As we all know, exits onto a busy highway involve speeding up—not slowing down.
The exit was SOLID ice. As I entered the exit, my car spun and almost slid off (lucky for my manual transmission as I could pop the clutch to stop the spin)...this is not a side street and most surely not a place where one should expect massive amounts of ice. Nobody wants to enter a busy highway at rush hour going 5 miles an hour. I’m so glad I didn’t wreck yesterday!
This brings up a good question…are exits to a state highway maintained by the Nebraska Dept. of Roads or the City of Lincoln? If I had to guess the state maintains this and wasn’t the state commenting (unfavorably) about the City’s use of brine?
A very slight downhill section of 48th just south of O St heading north was still black ice at 10am ... I came upon an accident there and practically was able to avoid one myself and I was going VERY slow when I hit the area.
That’s a VERY good question, and one that I didn’t even consider. It’s a mile from my house and I think I just thought of it as a city road…come to think of it, I don’t even think that exit is within the city limits! I fail. 😊
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