Beautiful but treacherous

Bus route detoured

9:00 am: Freezing rain has complicated the already difficult transit of vehicles in and out of Madison Park this morning.  A driver on Metro Bus Route 11 just reported to us that E. Madison Street is in bad shape between 23rd Avenue E. and ML King Way.  As a result, the buses have been detoured to ML King Way, with a later turn up Union Street to Olive.  Unfortunately, there is now a bus reportedly blocking Olive, which may necessitate a detour of the detour he told us.

This is what Madison looks like at the top the hill at this point:

The condition of Madison Street through the neighborhood is not horrible, given that city crews have repeatedly used "plow trucks with salt spreaders" on the roadway, according to SDOT's roadmap.  But the street is far from being clear, with a good inch or two of unmelting slush in the best places, and ice, exacerbated by freezing rain, in the worst.

As we recommended yesterday, don't brave the streets right now unless you have a good reason to do so. It's still freezing out there, and you will have an unpleasant trek unless properly fitted out, both in terms of attire and vehicle.

Note also that snow followed by freezing rain creates dangerous conditions for those walking under tree limbs:

Just a few words to the wise.