Road conditions continue to improve a day after a major winter storm moved through the area dumping ice and six inches of snow that was blown around by a nearly 40 mile per hour wind.
Major highways and the interstate highways in South Central Illinois are now reported as having just scattered slippery spots.
The Marion County Highway Department reports they have completed their first plow of all county highways and are following up with salt and cinders. Caution is still needed on the Tonti Road from Charleston Road to the Sale Barn at Route 37 which is still one lane in places. The Green Street Road is still snow-packed and slick in some areas.
Salem Township Road Commissioner Joe Telford reports West Boone Street from Airport Road to Hotze Road is now cleared of ice and snow. He reports all township roads have now been plowed and are open. They are working on trouble spots.
Both Salem and Centralia Public Works crews have been out plowing streets and all are passable but mostly snow-packed.
The sheriff’s department handled multiple calls Thursday of vehicles running off the road or minor wrecks on the icy roads, but none involved injury.
Salem and Centralia Police had multiple calls to assist motorists who had become stuck in the snowdrifts or had slid off the road.
The Salem Water Plant is reporting six inches of snow from the major winter storm that finally pulled out of the area overnight. Three inches of snow was on the ground by seven Thursday morning, with another three inches that fell through the day and early evening on Thursday. The snow melted down to four-tenths of an inch of precipitation.
The Centralia Water Plant also is reporting six inches of snow on the ground, with 35-hundredths of an inch of melted precipitation.
