Melt & freeze trouble

Motorists making the early morning commute were greeted with icy conditions Friday as the daytime snowmelt was followed by overnight freezing.

The pattern is expected to continue for several days as below zero temperatures overnight freeze the moisture left on the road from the previous day.

There were numerous reports of accidents, vehicles in ditches and sliding all over the roads Friday morning.

Police are advising motorists to slow down and drive to conditions.

While many were greeted with icy roads, others are dealing with large lake-like puddles on some streets.

City works crews have been working much of the week trying to alleviate the impact of puddles by clearing off the more than 10,000 catch basins in the city.

"We've been focusing on the ones either we are getting complaints on or the ones we know there are problems," said utility operations supervisor Mike Murrell.

"Protecting the business, commercial, institutional areas where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic. Ones we are made aware of, or we find are causing a traffic hazard we are getting to."

Murrell says there are some residential streets, especially downtown, where there is no storm drainage system.

Streets such as Stockwell or Cambridge avenues may experience some ponding the city can't do much about.

He says if puddling does pose a significant hazard in those areas, the city will deploy a vacuum truck to clean it up.

Murrell says if people notice severe puddling, they can put in a service request through the city website, or by calling the city works yard at 250-469-8600.