Evening Road Conditions

Around 5:00, I had to make a trip from Whitesboro to New Hartford and back again. All of the main roads seemed very clear where you could sustain the posted speed limit. It seemed, although, that many of the side, rural roads were not clear. Some were very slippery, full of slush, resulting in my anti-lock breaks kicking in.

I'm assuming this is still a big improvement compared to this morning. When all the school districts in Oneida County close, you know it is truly not safe to be out.

I also spoke with someone on their way to Amsterdam around mid-afternoon. They said everything that direction is very clear, including the Thruway.

Make sure to check out our YOU WITNESS NEWS Sections:

• Viewer Submissions Photo Gallery: http://www.wktv.com/news/5564601.html
• Meterologist Matt Lanza's Boonville Trip: http://www.wktv.com/news/5587466.html

Not an easy drive

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

It was an adventure getting out of my own driveway this morning but I managed to get out eventually.
The roads in New York Mills were fairly well plowed as were the ones on Oriskany Boulevard.
Traffic on Oriskany was moving at a good pace, although there was lighter volume than what I'm used to seeing between 7:30 and 8:00am.
My biggest problem today came when I tried to merge onto 790W and while driving slowly I still slid quite a bit.
Only one lane of 790W was clear and thanks to light traffic I felt fairly safe until I tried to merge onto North Genesee and entered a slick and slushy off-ramp.
Smith Hill Road was not too bad. I assumed that I was going to get stuck at some point, but front wheel drive helped me through the rough spots.

My Version of Smith Hill

Right off the top I have to comment on the frigid temperatures. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was start the car. I'm thinking a good half hour of warming up might not be enough. Luckily that did the trick.. nice and toasty on my AM commute.
Anyway on the way into work I ended up seeing Andrea Bullard (we live in the same neighborhood.) Actually, I look for Andrea every morning on my way in. We travel the same route to work so the chances of us bumping into each other are pretty high. It's kind of become a little game for me... odd I agree.
First thought once I hit the road... "I wonder what Smith Hill is like?" Honestly that's my first thought every morning on my way in, especially in the winter. If you've never made the trek up, you must check it out, if only to understand where I am coming from. Just to give perspective, I used to live in West Winfield. That's a 30 minute commute to work. It was always smooth sailing --until that HILL!
Moving on-- all is well on my way in. I stop at a local gas station in North Utica to grab a beverage( Mountain Dew)... then it's up the hill. I catch up with Andrea(she's a very cautious driver, hence slow). Fortunately she understands you need speed to make it up the hill. Unfortunately, deer crossing the road don't care. Andrea slams on her brakes, as do I. There's no collision. I was a safe distance from her car. Now I'm thinking.. "Here we go, I'm going to end up backing my car down this hill." Luckily that doesn't happen. We make up just fine. The town of Deerfield was out early, keeping up with Mother Nature.
A fine start to a chilly day!

The Good Morning Drive

Good Morning!
It's coming up on 4am here and Don and I are just reading over scripts.
Oddly enough we followed each other into work this morning. The roads in the city of Utica were fairly clear but not clear enough to drive the speed limit. All was well until Don and I got to the notorious Smith Hill (dun dun dunnnn). The trick to getting up the hill in less than perfect conditions is to get enough speed before you being the climb. That was going to be the plan for the two of us until...two deer jumped out in front of me. I slammed on my breaks (I've hit a few deer in my day and know what they can do). It was right then and there that the morning caravan came to a halt. I felt bad that not only did I kill the momentum for me, but for Don as well. So back and forth we went until we got to the top. Which brings us to where we are now.