Needs to Know For Winter Weather
Needs to Know For Winter Weather
City of Independence Pre-Treatment Plan
When a winter storm is forecast, Public Works staff monitors weather conditions throughout the city. Equipment is loaded and crews are placed on standby to respond when called. Streets will be pre-treated as necessary with a salt brine mixture.
City of Independence Snow Removal Plan
To make the snow removal process as efficient as possible, city streets are classified in four levels:
- Level 1 - Roadways that carry the highest volume of traffic. They generally have 3 or 4 lanes.
- Level 2 - Streets that connect Level 1 roadways to residential streets
- Level 3 - Dangerous hills and intersections throughout the city
- Level 4 - Residential streets, cul-de-sacs and dead-ends
Public Works crews are dispatched to Level 1 roadways once freezing rain, sleet or snow begins to fall. As long as snow is accumulating crews will remain on Level 1 roads until all driving and turn lanes are cleared. Public Works crews then move to Level 2 streets. These streets are plowed until passable, which means some snow will remain on the road surface.
Level 3 intersections and hills are next to be plowed or treated. With a typical winter storm, it generally takes between 12 and 16 hours to clear Level 1, 2 and 3 streets after the snow stops. High winds, extremely cold temperatures and additional rain or snowfall will lengthen this time.
Level 4 residential streets will then be opened with one pass. Residents are asked to not park vehicles on the street when snow is forecast. If parking on the street is unavoidable, vehicles should be parked along the north side of east-west streets and along the west side of north-south streets.
Snow removal shifts are staffed 24 hours a day during winter storm events. Crews work on 12-hour alternating shifts during the week, weekends and holidays to provide continuous operations until roads are cleared.
Snow Removal Vehicles
In order to allow snow removal crews to properly treat the streets, please avoid parking on the streets. This will allow the snow removal vehicles along with emergency response vehicles to navigate the streets safely and efficiently.
State Highways Snow Removal
NOTE: The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) maintains some roads in Independence. These include I-70, M-291 Hwy, M-78 Hwy (23rd Street), US 24 Hwy, US 40 Hwy and Truman Road from Spring Street to the west city limits. Use the MoDOT Traveler Information Map to determine which streets are maintained by MoDOT and check current conditions.
You can check MoDOT's Traveler Information Map for weather-related road conditions, flood closures & work zone locations.
See also: MoDot - Tips for driving in Winter conditions
Power Outage
The follow steps should be followed to report an outage that occurs.
- Call 816-325-7550
- If you are calling from the phone number associated with your account the system will recognize your address. Otherwise you will need to enter your address or the phone number on your account.
- Your address will be added to the outage map http://iplmap.indepmo.org/
- A crew will be dispatched to access and fix the problem.
- We recommend you select the option for a call back after IPL has restored the power to insure that we have dealt with all the issues regarding your power outage.