Winter Weather Road Conditions Updates

The Porter County Board of Commissioners has established a proactive communications process during winter weather events when road conditions deteriorate because of snow and/or icing. This process has been developed and refined over the past few years to assure that consistent and correct information is disseminated on a timely basis, both internally to necessary department stakeholders as well as externally to school district leadership and the public.

These road condition reports only apply to the roads maintained by the Porter County Highway Department. Porter County Highway Department is responsible for streets and roads in UNINCORPORATED Porter County. Unincorporated means outside the municipal boundaries of our cities and towns. State Roads and US Highways are also excluded as they are maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation. You can find more information about who maintains which roads at WHO MAINTAINS WHICH ROADS. 

In order to prevent confusing or conflicting information being disseminated, ALL road condition updates are coordinated through a designated staff member in the Board of Commissioners’ office.

When the Highway Department deploys trucks, no matter the time of day or night, they will notify the Commissioners’ designee with a road conditions report along with the steps they are taking to address the conditions. For ongoing snow/ice events, the Highway Department will provide updates every two to three hours or as conditions require. Upon receiving the initial report or any updated information from the Highway Department, the Commissioners’ designee will provide the information to:

• The three Commissioners via text message;
• Via email to internal Porter County government department heads and designees including, but not limited to, the Sheriff’s Department, Emergency Management Agency, Central Communications (E-911);
• All Porter County School District Superintendents and their designees via email;
• To the public via the Porter County Government Facebook page and shared on the Alert Porter County, Porter County Central Communication 911 and Porter County Emergency Management pages.
• Post the road conditions reports on the County website and sent notification of the reports to all who have subscribed to receive Road Conditions Updates via email and/or text message. SIGN UP FOR ROAD CONDITIONS REPORTS and receive them by email and/or text message.

When conditions warrant, the Emergency Management Agency Director will notify the Commissioners’ designee when any Travel Alerts are declared, modified or ended. The Director will update the Indiana Department of Homeland Security Travel website and the Commissioners’ designee will provide the information to:

• The three Commissioners via text message;
• Via email to internal Porter County Government department heads and designees including, but not limited to, the Sheriff’s Department, Emergency Management Agency, Central Communications (E-911); 
• All Porter County School District Superintendents and their designees via email;
• To the public via the Porter County Government Facebook page and shared on the Alert Porter County, Porter County Central Communications 911 and Porter County Emergency Management pages. Depending on the level of Travel Alert, the information may also be shared on other County managed Facebook pages including Porter County Expo, Porter County Animal Shelter, Recycle Porter County, Lost & Found Pets In Porter County;
• Post the Travel Alert level on the County website and send notification of the alert to all who have subscribed to receive Travel Alert notices via email and/or text message. The public can also SIGN UP FOR TRAVEL ALERT NOTICES and received them by email and/or text message.