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Here's how state, county crews and residents are handling the heavy snow

Posted at 5:24 PM, Jan 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-04 19:37:16-05

With possible record-breaking snow continuing to pound the Treasure Valley, ITD and ACHD crews are working around the clock to treat major interstates, highways and roadways.

The Ada County Highway District has announced their execution plan for treating county roads:

First, they'll plow and treat priority routes: arterial (big) roads/collectors (mid-size) roads, and major intersections, overpasses and bridges, areas around hospitals/fire stations, railroad crossings, areas around schools, and streets with grades of 6 percent or more.

ACHD's goal is to complete treatment within 24 hours after the end of the storm Wednesday night – although ACHD's full fleet of snow removal equipment has been out since 2 a.m.

ACHD crews expect to complete plowing and other treatment by 11 p.m. Thursday, January 5th

Next, ACHD will plow and treat all school bus priority routes beginning at 11 p.m. Thursday, January 5th and
Estimate to complete work in 12 hours – by 11 a.m., Friday, January 6th.

Next, ACHD will plow priority routes – those streets connecting to smaller neighborhood streets – within residential areas. Work will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, January 6th. Estimate to complete work is 24-48 hours.

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported a foot of snow on the ground at its office, coming close to the 13 inches received during the December 2, 1985 snow event. With snow continuing to fall, meteorologists expect a 31-year-old record to be broken.

In response, ACHD has fielded its entire fleet of 58 pieces of equipment, which includes:
37 plow trucks
5 road graders
14 anti-icing units
2 loaders
In addition, ACHD has contracted 6 private road graders and will have another two contracted graders plowing streets by this afternoon.

While ACHD is doing all that it can to maintain drivability on local streets, we join law enforcement in asking motorists to slow down, leave more follow distance between your vehicle and other traffic and expect it to take longer to get to destinations.