Hurray, the ice is melting!

I am very glad that the temperature has risen to above freezing finally so that some of the ice around here can melt. The most dangerous situation I have noticed is the sidewalk between the Richmond Heights Metrolink station and the Galleria Mall. That entire sidewalk is a giant pile of ice plowed off the street and everyone walking between the mall and the metrolink station has been walking on the road itself. In this cold weather I have been driving to the station and parking in the lot so I do not have to walk, but that means on my drive home I have to make sure I do not kill any pedestrians! Here is a photo I found online of the sidewalk in warmer weather. Now imagine it completely covered up with piles of plowed ice. You get the idea. The Galleria Parkway is now shared by both cars and pedestrians and that is a bad idea!

Closer to Washington University, I am glad that the full sidewalk from the Skinker station to our building is finally cleared. On Monday and Tuesday the sidewalks were 95% cleared -- but for insane reason they left about 30 feet of icy sidewalks between the corner and the rest of the cleared sidewalk. If you look at the snapshot from Monday around noon below (from the Clayco webcam, of course!) you can see what I mean. The sidewalk was fine from the stairs to the corner, but then you had to cross about 30 feet of ice before getting to the cleared section of the sidewalk (where someone can be seen walking). Whose bright idea was it to stop right there and not just finish the last several yards? Luckily by Wednesday afternoon that was clear, but it really would not have taken much effort to clear the rest of it.

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