Snow, Ice Create Slippery Thursday Commute in Maple Grove

The Twin Cities is dealing with what remains of “Winter Storm Walda”  - sleet, slush, ice and snow.

Not as bad as Worthington, MN or a few other places the storm hit—but it was a rough morning commute Thursday for many in the Maple Grove and Hennepin County area.

"Plowing operations today [Thursday] have taken on a similar look of a normal snow fall in the middle of the winter, meaning that we are plowing all the streets within the City in an attempt to avoid having the streets full of slush this weekend," Director of Public Works Ken Ashfeld told Patch. "As a Public Works staff, we have been transitioning our equipment over to accomplish spring/summer time tasks however we were able to transition back with the ample warning of the pending storm."

Icy roads and snow created the usual rash of crashes and spinouts early in the morning commute. From noon Tuesday to Thursday, statewide Minnesota State Trooper handled 415 crashes, 475 vehicles off the road 10 semi jackknifes. ecause of ice on overhead wires, buses replaced light-rail service along the entire Hiawatha line in Minneapolis. 

School districts in the Maple Grove area moved forward with the school day on Thursday, although some buses were delayed due to weather conditions.

"Normally, this time of the year we are positioning ourselves to clean up the City from the debris of the preceding winter and getting ready for beautification efforts. It is human nature that when spring hits, we want our yards and public spaces to be attended to as soon as possible. That in itself creates a huge task as the City is large and many numerous boulevards, parks and open spaces are competing for those cleanup efforts as we cannot be at all places at once," Ashfeld said. "This snow event will set us back some and hopefully our residents will be patient."

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