Good morning, Netizens...

Here, in my opinion, is the scope of the problem(s) facing Spokane as of 6:00 AM this morning, with my proposed solutions to follow in a separate message:

According to my time chart, it stopped snowing at approximately 4:15 yesterday.

At the present time we have only a few city bus routes that can operate. There is one South Hill route listed, and none of the extended routes listed on <a href='http://www.spokanetransit.com/ridesta/InclementWeatherNotice.asp'>the Spokane Transit Authority website </a>. Some of the bus routes still have not been plowed; most secondary routes are either not plowed or only marginally accessible.

According to a live interview with Marlene Feist this morning, graders are just now beginning to move into secondary and residential streets. Thus, most side streets are inaccessible or at the very best, accessible using a four-wheel-drive chained up. KREM-2's 1 ton four-wheel drive van got high-centered on-camera on a side street this morning.

Most of the hills are snow-packed, icy and dangerous regardless of what vehicle is used. Numerous slide-offs and accidents are already being reported.

Both the Spokane County Sheriff's Department, the Spokane Police Department and the Washington State Patrol have stated that if you do not have an emergency need to travel today, please stay home. Despite that fact, people persist in attempting to travel with predictable results.

The temperature currently is 14 degrees, six degrees below the minimal temperature at which the liquid de-icer currently used on icy streets will work. The temperatures will continue to drop over the next 24 hours rendering any hope of using de-icer both a waste of resources and adding additional hazard to the problem, as it will freeze.

There are other problems facing the City of Spokane today, but these are the most-apparent. Feel free to contribute other problem statements I may have overlooked.

Dave

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