Updated at noon Thursday
Police towing stranded cars; cancellations
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Brentwood awoke to a cold and white morning today, but with all local schools closed and many people opting to work from home or delay their commutes, the morning rush hour fairly smooth, according to city sources. The city’s police department, however, continues to deal with abandoned vehicles and other issues resulting from Wednesday’s snowstorm that hit right at rush hour paralyzing Middle Tennessee.

“From a road perspective, the commute was fine – low volume and the main roads were in good shape,” Assistant City Manager Kirk Bednar said this morning.

 “Crews are currently working on clearing turn lanes on the main roads and still pushing snow off some of the secondary snow routes (They’re) trying to get as much off the primary roads as possible so it won’t refreeze tonight.,” he continued.

Because public works crews worked throughout the night and into the morning, Bednar said most will be sent home in the early afternoon. They will be on call tonight for any problems due to refreezing, “but we hope they can all get a good night’s sleep in their own beds.”

Sunshine and slightly rising temperatures continue to improve road conditions.

By early today, the police department has investigated 19 vehicle crashes since the snow began, Capt. Tommy Walsh reported. “Luckily none of those resulted in any injuries. We received many more calls concerning vehicles that were simply not able to continue and were abandoned. Our officers are now working on removing those vehicles from the roadway.”

“We have been forced to tow several vehicles that were left in a lane of traffic on a main thoroughfare. While we are sensitive to those drivers who were stranded while the snow was falling, we must keep the lanes clear to prevent additional accidents and allow for the smooth flow of traffic,” he said.

“We would ask anyone who left a vehicle in the roadway to please remove it as soon as possible,” Walsh added.

Brentwood Fire & Rescue did not experience a significant increase in call volume due to the storm, primarily because traffic was moving so slowly and those who could stay in, did, Asst. Chief Brian Goss reported.

The department did send out crews in four-wheel vehicles to respond to its non-weather related medical and service calls instead of fire engines “due to their increased ability to maneuver through traffic and their capability to traverse ice and snow covered roads more efficiently” Goss said.

“If we can make it through the next 24 hours of frigid temperatures without a fire, we will consider ourselves blessed,” he noted.

Closings, postponements

• The inaugural Brentwood History Bowl between AP U.S. History students from Brentwood and Ravenwood High School scheduled for tonight has been postponed until next Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in the Brentwood Municipal Building.
• Towne Centre Theatre’s opening night performance of A Trip to Bountiful has been postponed until Friday.
• The Brentwood Woman’s Club Poetry Contest reception has been postponed until Monday, Feb. 14, at 3:45 p.m. at the Brentwood Library.
• The FiftyForward Martin Center is closed today.
• Williamson County Parks and Recreation facilities will close at 6 p.m. tonight. Facilities will reopen at 8 a.m., or their later regularly scheduled time, on Friday. 

Brentwood Home Page will continue to update its readers with news about school status, closings and postponements.  If you have closings you wish reported, please email to news@brentwoodhomepage.com