Road crews gird for all-night battle

More than 350 Illinois Department of Transportation snowplows are poised to spend the night clearing state roadways in the Chicago area to make Wednesday morning’s commute manageable.

What may make it even more manageable is the fact that many offices decided Tuesday to close down on Wednesday. Schools, government offices and several other private companies all told employees to stay home.

IDOT officials say the specific quality of the commute Wednesday will be determined by conditions, but that the full complement of operations will be thrown at the storm. Snow removal will be the primary focus until the blizzard that arrived Tuesday afternoon winds down. That’s when they’ll begin laying down salt on the roadways.

Meanwhile, the area’s tollways are also receiving the full court press from that agency’s battalion of snowplows. The tollway staffed all 183 plow vehicles to clear 2,047 lane miles between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Tollway officials also brought in a full complement of 200 employees per shift to staff the storm. Lane closures were all postponed until Friday morning as well.

Officials from both agencies urged motorists to travel as little as possible during the storm.

“Motorists should plan ahead and provide sufficient time to reach their destination,” said IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig. “Slow down, buckle up and eliminate all potential distractions in their vehicle before driving.”

Statewide, IDOT has more than 1,900 pieces of equipment available for deployment to keep roads clear and passable. Officials there said all available vehicles had been deployed during the storm.