Mayor urges drivers to ‘please slow down’ in wake of winter storm

Mayor Glenn Johnson asks drivers to “please slow down” after more than 100 collisions occurred all across the Palouse on Monday, and more than 60 crashes were reported in Pullman alone.

The Pullman City Council adopted the 2023-24 Mayor’s Proposed Biennial Budget as an ordinance at a regular meeting Tuesday afternoon. Along with the budget, the Council addressed winter weather as December approaches.

Johnson said many collisions were because of the beginning of a snowstorm, projected to last until Friday. Many incidents were caused by people driving too fast and quick drops in temperatures. City crews tended to roads Monday morning with salt and de-icers, but challenges arose after the second crews responded, when temperatures dropped 5 degrees within an hour and a half. Roads once thawed became icy as Grand Avenue filled up with end-of-day traffic.

Employers dismissed people from work early because of the storm and Johnson said Grand Avenue, along with other main routes, quickly became clogged. Pullman Transit was suspended at 4 p.m. Monday and was reinstalled at 7 p.m. after service was restored.

Johnson said the City of Pullman is prepared for winter weather. Crews will care for arterial routes first, including bus and main routes of traffic, and then they will tend to residential streets. He added it’s a group effort — while crews work to keep roads safe, drivers should stay vigilant, slow down and use good tires.

City Administrator Mike Urban presented the finalized 2023-24 biennial budget. The council held a public comment before adopting the budget as an ordinance, which no residents attended.

“As the mayor pointed out in his letter, there were 14 new leaders in different sections, and getting to work with these people, I can’t express my thanks enough to the staff,” Urban said. “It was a really important thing for me to see, as the city administrator, how everybody was able to come together and put their pieces together to move the community and the organization forward.”

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com or on Twitter @Emily_A_Pearce.