While it hasn’t felt like winter locally just yet, the Marion County Roads Department is prepared to clear snow from area roadways.

Marion County Engineer Tyler Christian says that per their ordinance, county-owned motor graders and snow plows will not be in operation after 8:00 pm and will not begin before 4:00 am during snow events. 

“A lot of days we are putting in 16 hour days plowing snow, but our guys do need some rest and we build that into the ordinance for them to take our break and get home and see their families for a little bit during the day. But just want to remind people that we’ll start at 4 am and on our typical overnight snow, we can get over the routes almost twice before we start to see the bulk of the commuter traffic.”

If conditions are too hazardous, snow removal operations may be suspended until they are deemed safe to resume. Roads may only have one lane plowed for a period of time and after all roads have been opened to two-lane travel, snow removal will only be carried out during normal working hours. 

Hear more from Tyler Christian on today’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.