Some Hanover roads have had the traction of skating rinks in recent days.

Public Works Manager Wes Fehr says conditions on country roadways became abnormally slippery over the weekend.

A combination of mild weather, light snowfall, and freezing drizzle over the weekend resulted in road conditions that were especially bad for this time of year.

“This was a bit unique,” he admits, “When we had that rain Sunday morning and then it froze right afterward, it created areas where there was almost a layer of black ice on the gravel itself.

Fehr says his crews were well aware of the hazard and began working immediately to mitigate the chance of collisions.

“As soon as we realized it would be raining and turning to ice we did a lot of salting and sanding in the asphalt areas,” he explains, “and then Monday morning we put some special blades onto the graders that we could use to cut down the ice on the gravel roads to improve the traction.”

Fehr says sanding and scraping began on the high-traffic roads and proceeded into the rural development areas. By Wednesday afternoon, he notes, every region had been covered once.

“We have identified a few more areas we want to do a bit more work on, but conditions are not like they were the other day.”

Fehr thanks residents for their patience and says the Public Works Department does try their best to address road maintenance concerns like these as soon as possible.