City of Jackson Public Works Director shares timeline of service during Winter Storm Fern
Jackson, Tenn. – In the wake of Winter Storm Fern, the City navigated an unprecedented combination of freezing rain and extreme cold that challenged standard winter operations. By prioritizing emergency routes and hospitals and leveraging a network of regional contractors and heavy machinery, crews have worked tirelessly to combat persistent refreezing.
“Overall, Winter Storm Fern required an extended, citywide response to a rare combination of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and prolonged extreme cold that significantly limited the effectiveness of standard winter operations. To date, more than 700 tons of salt have been applied. Arterial, collector, and state routes are actively being improved, with a continued effort to restore safer travel conditions for our community,” said Public Works Director Austin Clark. “Despite repeated refreezing and hazardous conditions, slow but steady progress was made through coordinated local efforts and eventual assistance from TDOT.”
Below is a timeline of service conducted by City of Jackson, TN Street Department:
-Saturday Jan. 24th: the City of Jackson Street Dept reported to work around midnight. Around 1am, and for the next several hours that followed, approximately 170 tons of salt was dispersed across the city along our main arterial and collector streets, including emergency facilities, first responder facilities, and the hospital. Snowfall began between 5- 5:30am. Through the course of the day, salt trucks plowing streets as snow began to accumulate
-Sunday Jan 25th: the city received a heavy wintery mix of sleet and freezing rain.
-Monday Jan 26th: following the snow, sleet, and freezing rain, dangerously frigid conditions set in with temperatures dropping into the single digits with wind chills into the negatives; rendering the salt applied to the streets ineffective. Rock salt, or granulated sodium chloride is most effective when street temperatures reach between 25-32 degrees. When temperatures drop below 20 degrees, rock salt becomes nearly ineffective or basically useless.
-Tuesday Jan 27th: after several attempts of street clearing of our main arterial streets, plow blades were swapped from rubber to steel. JEA was informed of the change due to the risk of damaging infrastructure such as manholes and valve boxes. Though temperatures remained frigid, sunlight assisted in melting the surfacing area of the streets. That created an issue of its own as temperatures dropped throughout the night, and refreeze created even greater hazardous driving conditions.
-Wednesday Jan 28th: heavy machinery and road graders, all equipment not normally needed during snow events, were rented from local vendors to attempt to scrape the ice from the streets. Highland and North Parkway were prioritized. During this time, Governor Lee signed Executive Order 111, allowing TDOT crews to assist local and county governments with street clearing. TDOT’s priority was lineman assistance for cities and counties with widespread power outages. TDOT was contacted for their assistance with inter-city streets. We were informed that requests would be accepted in the coming days and that it would be at least the weekend before we would have any assistance.
-Thursday Jan 29th: contractors all across West Tennessee were contacted and hired for their assistance. Everyone from heavy machinery contractors, tree service companies, and local farmers were brought in and tasked with routes and areas to clear.
-Friday Jan 30th: TDOT began accepting requests for street clearing assistance. Requests were submitted for several major arterial streets and state highway routes within the city limits. During this time, contractors are clearing major collector streets throughout the city.
-Those efforts continued through Saturday, Jan. 31st and Sunday Feb 1st.
-Monday Feb 2nd: TDOT began assisting with arterial streets and State highways throughout the City. TDOT also donated 50 tons of rock salt to the City, as our reserves had fallen to only 100 tons in our last-effort emergency bin.