‘Surprise’ snow to blame for bad roads, Indianapolis mayor says

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — After overnight snow, many people driving into Indianapolis for work Friday morning were met with poor road conditions, including roads that seemed as though they had not been plowed at all.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was at an event on the east side Friday morning and talked to News 8 about the city streets.

“Well, this snowstorm was a surprise. We didn’t necessarily see it in its totality until it fell,” said Hogsett. 

On Thursday afternoon, Storm Track 8 Chief Meteorologist Ashley Brown said she expected the snow would start around 7 p.m. and end right before Friday morning’s commute.

Friday morning News 8 reporters and photojournalists were all over the city documenting what turned into a miserable commute. Hours after the commute was over, major roads across Marion County remained slick, snow-covered and hazardous, which Mayor Hogsett acknowledged.

“The public’s, you know, ire is no doubt the result of ending of the snow being right before the beginning of the commute, so I think the roads are clear for now and certainly all drivers should have a clean drive home, a smooth drive home this afternoon,” said Hogsett.

Weather like this is expected in central Indiana during the first week of February, and this was the first snow event of the year to affect a morning commute. Other snowfall in January occurred on weekends. 

“You always try to plan ahead and depend on as many different weather forecasts, DPW looks at a wide variety of different forecasts and tries to plan accordingly, and you know, you can’t control the weather, and the fact that we got the overnight snow — so that when people were getting up this morning the snow event ended just as their commute began — that made conditions a little more difficult,” said Hogsett.

The city of Indianapolis pays $27,000 per year to Weather Sentry, a private weather forecasting service, according to the mayor’s office.