This week, Lincoln got a whopping 14.5 inches of snow, the second most in city history, falling only behind the 19 inches of snow that Lincoln received in February of 1965.

One of the biggest difficulties for people after a big snowstorm, are the roads. While the main roads typically get plowed as soon as the snow stops falling, the residential streets are usually plowed if requested, or if there is an emergency. Even then, side streets take a back seat to the main roads. Therefore, it can take at least a couple of days for the residential streets to get plowed. This can result in side streets being slippery, icy, messes.

“I didn’t leave my house, but I did know some people who said that the roads were bad,” Mrs. Melissa Beard said. “My boyfriend said that it was kind of difficult.”

The situation can get even worse when a snow emergency is called. If people have a car parked on the side of the street, they are supposed to move the vehicle out of the way for the snow plows. 

Unfortunately though, sometimes that doesn’t happen, and, as a result, plow drivers are forced to try and avoid hitting anything, which can sometimes create issues.

“I jog, and you can go along and you can see cars that are plowed in,” Mr. Kirk McAndrew said. “I mean the plows are able to get through, but it’d be better if they weren’t parked on the street because then they’d be able to get all that snow moved off. So now you’ve got a car taking up a huge amount of space with all that snow plowed along the side, the front, and the back.”

One of the biggest issues is where the snow goes. While the snow gets cleared from the street, it can get pushed in front of driveways, and create a wall of snow that cars can get stuck on when people are trying to pull out of their driveway. 

“My neighbors didn’t move their vehicles out of the way, so he just kind of made a straight shot down the road,” Mrs. Larissa Turner said. “And so he left ice walls on both sides and I had to dig mine out so I could get to work.”

The fact that, even with plows going through side streets, people still found it difficult to leave their houses with all of the snow could’ve played a factor into why we had a snow day on Wednesday. Additionally, even with plows, travel after a snowfall of that amount is still difficult.