photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

The intersection at 13th Street and Tennessee streets in Lawrence on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

All of Lawrence’s priority routes have been plowed as of Monday, but the roads may still be slick in some parts because of the layer of ice underneath, according to the Municipal Services Operation department.

Michael Leos, the Communication & Community Engagement Specialist for MSO, said the team was “working around the clock” to clear the roads across the city, starting with the city’s 436 lane miles of “priority snow routes” — the routes that have the most travelers, including major arterial streets like Iowa Street, Tennessee Street and 23rd Street and areas around school zones, bridges or hospitals.

The historic storm — Douglas County received snowfall of 8 to 12 inches, on top of a layer of ice, between a tenth and a quarter-inch thick, that had already formed before the snowfall began — led to travel issues throughout the region over the weekend, including the closure of major roadways across the state like stretches of Interstate-70 and other major highways.

Leos said the crews plowing the streets in Lawrence noted that even after plowing, the layer of ice that accumulated was “tough to remove” — even after the streets were salted. Although the sunshine on Monday helped with melting some patches of ice, Leos said the roads could still be slick.

“We still want to encourage all of our residents to be vigilant and safe while driving, even if the road has been plowed,” Leos said.

In addition to clearing roads communitywide, city crews have been dedicated to clearing roads and parking areas in downtown Lawrence. As of Monday afternoon, the majority of downtown parking lots and sidewalks had been cleared for pedestrians.

Now that the priority routes, mapped out on the city’s website, are all plowed, Leos said the crew’s next steps would be to tackle residential streets across Lawrence. Additionally, crews worked on the giant piles of snow that accumulated known as windrows in the downtown Lawrence area along Massachusetts Street, Vermont Street, New Hampshire Street and the numbered streets.