DOT camera view on I-35 south of Des Moines.
Heavy snow has made travel tough across central and southern Iowa today.
DOT winter operations administrator Craig Bargfrede talk with Radio Iowa about the conditions. “The biggest challenge really has been the rate of snow and the visibility with the winds, especially earlier this morning, we had some instances where we had some very, very low visibility over in the Iowa City, Coralville area,” he says. The DOT earlier today had recommended against travel in the Iowa City area due to the visibility.
The DOT puts down chemicals to try and keep the snow from sticking — but Bargfrede says the wind hurts those efforts. “Temperatures right now are actually pretty good for our treatment practices. It’s just that wind and visibility. This was kind of a dryer, dryer consistency snow so it really is blowing around there pretty good,” he says.
The latest road conditions report shows many of the state roadways in southern and central Iowa are not good for travel. “Basically if you draw a line using I-80 and the north end, pretty much I-80 south — the majority of that area we’re showing 100 percent snow and ice covered…and then over in eastern Iowa from the Iowa City, Coralville, Cedar Rapids area over towards like DeWitt and Davenport, that area. I think it appears right now that they got quite a bit of snow, probably the largest amount of snow is what I’m speculating.”
Bargfrede says you should avoid traveling in those areas. He says the wind is supposed to die down and temperatures will start to warm up — which will help them in clearing the roadways.