Politics & Government

CONTRIBUTE: How Are The Roads Looking Out There, Mercer Island?

Do your neighbors a favor and recommend what roads to take and what not to take.

It's a Winter Wonderland out there, Mercer Island, and for those unfortunate souls who don't have to drive — it might be a good day to call a friend or relative you've been meaning to or enjoy the snow day with the kids.

In other words, it's probably a good idea to just stay off the road with your 2- or 4-wheeled vehicles (I somehow doubt many Islanders own snowmobiles).

If you absolutely must, some roads are better maintained than others: Click here for the city's sanding priority list here, and click here for the city's chemical de-icing routes. I'd like to invite you to share what you know about the current routes in your neighborhood.

Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Please login to Patch and share your observations and experiences in the comment section (below). Better yet, if you have a picture of your neighborhood street, please feel free by hitting the "contribute" button in this story and upload your photos to Mercer Island Patch.

If you've got a lot to say, or would like to give someone a 'kudos' for a job well done — keeping the roads safe, shoveling a neighbor's walkway, you name it — send a letter to the editor to kendall.watson@patch.com and we'll publish it to Mercer Island Patch.

Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Let's help each other out today, and recognize those who are making Snopocalypse 2012 a little less dreary.

The city has been operating four snowplow trucks equiped with sanding equipment, de-icer and plow blades overnight on 12-hour shifts, but has not opened the city's Emergency Operation Center.

Here's the latest from City Manager Rich Conrad from last night's City Council meeting:

The weather service that we subscribe to is predicting 3-5 inches starting late tonight, continuing on into tomorrow afternoon — it could go up to a foot.
We're going to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best.

The City Manager also noted that Puget Sound Energy has pre-positioned line crews on the Island in the event of any downed trees or powerlines — reducing response times — and Allied Waste, the city's garbage contractor, will allow customers not served on snow days to "double-up" on their curbside garbage amounts at no additional cost.


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