Jacksonville, Ore., — “You can tell even though it’s the middle of the day right now, they’re still covered in ice and snow.” said resident, Hilary McDonald.
While the winter weather has been a fun sight in Jacksonville….
“I think most of us are just so happy to see it around the holiday, that we’re just so happy to walk in it and play in it. My son is making a snowman right now, and he’s having a great time.” said McDonald.
It’s also felt dangerous at times.
“It was really icy though, and pretty dangerous for the cars. We were walking around last night and you could barely walk the dog on the roads, let alone drive. And some people were going pretty fast.” said McDonald.
“Oh yeah if you’re walking, like especially if you have a kid, and you’re walking by the side of the road – like I told my wife to stay away from the road, because people hit their breaks and think they’re gonna stop.” said resident, Saul Harper.
Highway 238 and other roads in and around Jacksonville were covered in snow on Monday.
“So what we’ve had is obviously, we had a winter storm come through with snow and ice region wide.” said ODOT spokesman, Gary Leaming.
ODOT says certain roads have higher priority than others, to make safe and clear for drivers.
“When this happens we try to stay on top of everything, I-5 is obviously our priority, but obviously we have to take care of our other district level routes as well.” said Leaming.
But just because the roads look snow covered, doesn’t mean ODOT crews are ignoring them.
“They take great pride in keeping the roads as clear as they can. But obviously some roads don’t have the high priority like I-5, but we still get to them.” said Leaming.
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