A winter storm warning has been issued for Kansas City. Is the city prepared to clear roads?

On Friday, city officials stood in front of Kansas City’s towering salt dome, which has become a tradition over the years, boasting that the city is fully staffed with workers and materials to make streets safe less than 48 hours before the upcoming winter storm.

“We’ve never been more prepared,” city manager Brian Platt said.

Kansas City is expected to see a record amount of snowfall from the upcoming winter storm set to hit the area overnight Saturday into Sunday.

The city is equipped with 40,000 tons of salt, 8,000 tons of IceBan (a mixture of sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, and yellow prussiate of soda to de-ice roads), 36,000 gallons of calcium chloride to de-ice roads, 300 snow removal trucks and 400 drivers.

Pre-treatment of roads began Friday morning at 7 a.m., Platt said.

The city’s snow team began prepping in the summer and will feature an all-hands-on-deck approach for a 24-hour operation across all city departments that will end when “every street and every neighborhood is clear”, according to Platt.

When asked about the city’s strategy for ensuring every part of the city is cleared, Mayor Quinton Lucas attacked the “old tale” by saying no area gets special attention when snow removal is needed.

“What it’s based on is, where is the snow falling? Where does it need to be treated? And our goal is to address the entire city, whether you are at the far north, far south, any part of the city in between,” he said.

Other preparations

Kansas City has a Snow Angels program that pairs seniors or residents with disabilities with volunteers to remove snow from their homes.

RideKC intends to operate normally, but if they need to utilize a snow schedule, they’ll use their Sunday/holiday schedule.

For Kansas City’s houseless population, there are 400 beds across the metro’s nine locations. Officials said the unhoused population understand where to go, according to houseless prevention coordinator Josh Henges.

While the city is confident in its storm preparations, Lucas expressed dismay at the Missouri Department of Transportation’s staffing shortages. MoDOT warned that a shortage of workers could threaten its ability to keep state roads clear after the expected weekend storm.

Lucas said the staffing shortages are “disappointing” but Kansas City had similar issues and remedied them. He expects MoDOT to fulfill its obligations and hopes that the state agency communicates with the city about where it needs assistance.

“Certainly the 510,000 people in Kansas City who pay taxes to the state of Missouri to help support this issue, would expect the type of treatment and way to address this storm that we’re seeing from our local government jurisdictions throughout western Missouri as well,” Lucas said.

City officials also ask residents to turn to the myKCMO app to report issues that arise from the storm.