“In the last 24 hours, City of Bismarck Roads and Street crews have gotten forty percent of the streets opened,” said Jeff Heintz, Public Works Service Operations. “The volume and the weight of the snow are making it slow going and it has slowed the normal pace of snow removal operations,” said Heintz.

Operators will make one pass with the snow plow in each direction through the center of the road in residential areas to provide residents with access to get out as soon as possible.

“We’re plowing continuously 24 hours a day and are working in the residential areas as fast as we can to provide residents with access. We have all of our plows out right now across the city. They’re moving all the time and we’re going to keep going until the streets are open,” said Heintz. “Bismarck has over 300 miles of roads to plow and we’re doing the best we can.”

“We understand that this is frustrating for residents. We ask for their patience as we do the best we can to clear the snow from the roadways,” said Heintz. Periodic status updates on snow removal will be provided throughout the day.

City of Bismarck Roads and Streets crews have been working twenty-four hours a day and began keeping snow emergency routes open Sunday morning. Due to the blizzard conditions City crews had to stay on the emergency routes until winds subsided. “As soon as we plowed through the emergency routes they drifted in, and we had to keep plowing them,” said Heintz