City of Springfield Service Director Chris Moore said normally, crews would be busy salting nearly every street in the city, and it’s at that time they could notice other issues. But with the less-than-usual snowfall, they ask that residents be proactive and call if there is a problem.
“We have folks here ready to take those calls, and many cases people are surprised — they call with a problem and the problem has been here for three years,” he said. “They call and the problem is fixed in a day or two. It’s not because we don’t care. It’s because we didn’t know about it.”
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Earlier this week, a dangerous patch of ice formed on a section of Buckeye Street that put both pedestrians and drivers at risk.
Lori Yates, who has lived near the intersection of Buckeye Street and Oak Street for over 20 years said she’s consistently experienced issues with flooding and ice in that area.
“The kids will use it as an ice skating rink,” she said.
Yates originally thought there could be a problem with an underground pipe. She said she had called the City of Springfield about the issue a handful of times since moving into her home, but it had been several years since she last reported it.
On Tuesday, after learning of the recent problem on Buckeye Street, service crews salted the area twice in the morning — Moore also cited a special blade that’s under most of the fleet’s snow trucks that are equipped to scrape ice from the street if it’s thick.
Moore said crews also met with Yates in person about the problem and gave her the proper contact information should she have an issue on her street again.
He said the excess water and ice is due to ground water that’s present in that neighborhood. The problem is exacerbated when the area gets a douse of heavy rain followed by plummeting temperatures — similar to the weather that Springfield has experienced in the past week.
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Moore pointed to a handful of other areas of town where the water table is also higher — including sections of Mitchell Boulevard, Derr Road and Villa Road.
He said many of those areas haven’t experienced major problems in many years.
“Cases like (Buckeye Street), there’s not a great fix. Mother Nature is kind of doing her thing. but there are little things we can do to make it better,” Moore said. “The good news here is we’ve been able to open up dialogue with the resident, and she knows exactly how to get ahold of our Public Works Superintendent.”
Yates said she’s optimistic that the street will be less of a headache for her and her neighbors in the future.
Springfield residents should call (937) 525-5800 or submit a service request online at springfieldohio.gov if they have any issues on their streets.
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