AKRON, Ohio — Snow moved into Akron Friday afternoon, with more expected on Saturday and Sunday. While city leaders are not expecting major accumulations, snow plow drivers are not taking any chances.
"Right now, we're at a level four which is our highest priority. We have all 52 trucks out right now," said Akron Public Works Manager Jon Malish.
The crews' immediate focus was mostly on salting the main and secondary roads.
The city isn't expecting to meet its threshold—typically five inches—for plowing or treating residential streets over the weekend.
However, Malish said people who live on residential streets that need to be cleared or salted can call 311. The city will dispatch trucks and aim to reach those neighborhoods within 12 hours.
In February 2024, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik announced a new real-time mapping technology. The technology outfitted snow plows with GPS systems, allowing the city to monitor truck locations and residents to check online the last time streets were serviced.
"It sends us a satellite signal back and we can track exactly where that truck has been," Malish said.
However, in recent weeks, Public Works discovered that the snowplow tracker technology has not been relaying information to the dashboard accurately.
The city has been working to figure out the problem.
"I don't know right now," Malish said. "All I know is (it) had to do something with an upgrade."
Akron leaders hope that the upgrade will happen next week. The mapping technology was temporarily removed from the city's snow and ice removal website, but it was restored late Friday afternoon so that residents could monitor some of the progress.
In the meantime, Malish offered some practical advice to drivers.
"Just take it easy, really. Take your time."
