MoDOT answers questions about Wednesday weather prep
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The freezing drizzle and mist created problems for many drivers Wednesday morning. A dozen different areas of highways were closed throughout the Kansas City metro at some point.
Missouri Department of Transportation Senior Communications Specialist Brooke Rohlfing says I-470 westbound at I-49 was closed for 5 to 6 hours. She says a good amount of their crews were on the Grandview Triangle for an extended period of time in the morning.
'They just continue to stay there and continue to work as they were needed,' she said in an interview with FOX4 Wednesday afternoon.
As FOX4 drove on 71 Highway we could see a number of cars on the shoulder. One was even facing the wrong direction as we drove northbound. Rohlfing added that the Downtown Loop was another spot where crews spent a lot of time. There was a wreck at 71 Highway and 19th Street just after 4 a.m.
MAP: Traffic and road conditions across the Kansas City metro
'So, we've actually been planning for this for a few days because you just never know with temperatures like this what your precipitation's going to be like,' Rohlfing said when asked if the weather event caught her crews off guard. 'So, our crews were on call. They knew. We kind of had a plan in place, and we were ready to begin treating at midnight ahead of some of the precipitation.'
Rohlfing said MoDOT crews pre-treated with salt.
'I work with special needs people, but I also do DoorDash,' Grandview, MO resident Eyvori Falls said when asked what she did for a living. 'I was DoorDashing this morning.'
Despite MoDOT's work before the precipitation, Falls said the roads were extremely bad.
'I saw about over 20 cars turned around going from the highway from up north to Grandview,' she continued.
'They texted us at six in the morning and told us they were going to cancel school,' Kansas City Public Schools Teacher Lamarco Aikens said. 'It's an AMI day. We're going to do online learning, so I'm like, 'Okay. Cool.''
Aikens is a PE Teacher, so when the district has an Alternative Method of Instruction Day, he works for Instacart.
View the latest Weather Alerts in the Kansas City region on FOX4
'No, my all-wheel drive was pretty cool out here,' Aikens said when asked if he slid at all. 'But if you got a car, you're going to be really slipping out here, so be careful.'
Kansas Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Delaney Tholen says crews west of State Line first treated their highways and interstates with salt brine, and then they treated them with salt.
'Salt brine, or saltwater, is often applied before salt to help the salt work faster,' she said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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