Metro area road managers were feeling some unseasonable heat Tuesday as drivers called, tweeted and otherwise openly questioned why icy gridlock persisted two days after the fourth-deepest December snowfall in Twin Cities records.
Tuesday afternoon's commute remained painfully slow for many drivers, following the second straight day featuring morning trips three times as long as normal. A thick washboard of ice continued to grip metro freeways and streets despite widespread snow emergencies and other road-clearing efforts.
Mindy Kehn's usual hourlong commute from Princeton to Minneapolis Tuesday morning became a two-hour, white-knuckled grind. At its worst, cars crawled along at 5 miles per hour, and 40 mph at its best. "It was very slow," she said. At one point, she and other motorists hit "washboard ice," she said. "It was just terrible ... I was so focused on being safe, I was holding my breath and had to remind myself to breathe."
The unrest even prompted St. Paul city engineer John Maczko to take to the city's website to plead for patience and assure drivers that sun and temperatures in the mid-30s Wednesday should bring significant improvement.
"I can assure you that all of us in Public Works are doing everything humanly possible with the resources we have to get back to normal as soon as possible," Maczko wrote. "... It is a problem across the metro area. We ask for your patience and understanding. (And if you have any pull with Mother Nature it would be appreciated.)"
Maczko explained how the ice sheets had formed as wet snow fell and temperatures dropped Sunday. He noted that the city had used nearly three times the amount of salt as it uses in a typical snowfall.
'Bulletproof' ice pack
Mike Kennedy, Minneapolis Public Works superintendent, described the ice pack on streets as "bulletproof."
