Snow Plowing 101: Dumbing Down

The morning Wisconsin State Journal had a few articles about the snow removal efforts after the fourteen inch blizzard including this one, Snow-related troubles continue in wake of storm.

The snow packed and treacherous streets that commuters faced on Thursday morning were not the result of the depth and weight of the storm but a series of conscious decisions made over recent years.

These conscious decisions converged on this perfect storm:

• Do not expand snow removal operations to keep up with the growth of the city. While new areas include residential communities like Richmond Hills, much of the growth is in commercial and retail plats that pay more property taxes than it costs to service the area.
• A shift from the old garbage collection system to the new container system. The old trucks doubled as plows; the new trucks with their sensitive equipment cannot be used for snow removal.
• A reduction in the use of salt. The city steadily reduced the amount of salt used on city streets since the 1970's, but we have reached a point where in some instances it compromises the commitment for bare pavement on the major arteries and connectors.

The result is the congestion and accidents we experienced Thursday and continued to experience Friday. One example was the closing of John Nolen Drive because of glare ice. Another was the inability of many to climb the icy hill west of Randall School which left traffic backed up on Regent street past West Washington Avenue an hour after the rush hour normally ends.

It used to take about 8-10 hours to plow an average storm. If both city and back-up private equipment were maintained in required numbers, the time to do a city-wide plowing would not expand to 12-14 hours, even with the additional miles of street.

It is true that by Thursday morning, with temperatures dropping to zero, salt application was not effective. But there was a decision made Tuesday night and Wednesday to choose between more plows, or fewer plows and applying salt.

That decision, not to salt, was a result of not enough equipment. With enough equipment it would not have been an 'either or' dilemma.

When we look at the decisions at first blush there are appears to be a number of benefits. The city budget takes a smaller financial hit, saving the taxpayers money, and the reduced salt use is better for the environment.

If we examine the problem looking outside of the silo of the city budget and examine the externalities, we get a different set of variables to examine:

The major streets are not bare pavement, resulting in

• more accidents
• thousands of hours of wasted time for commuters and the economy
• a significant number of tons of carbon emissions created by vehicles in traffic for an additional thirty to forty minutes on each side of the commute
• reduced public safety as emergency responders cannot navigate the congestion
• public transit compromised - buses have a more difficult time than automobiles in the congestion.  Many people waited too long at bus stops in bitter cold.
• reduced useful life of many cars as a result of driving on this mess for months.

All of this compounded by a series of decisions in recent years to reduce the use of alternate street parking in the downtown resulting in further complications in these storms - complications that compromise safety and drive up costs.

Comments

[grumps]

Speaking of alternate side parking laws...When did it become fashionable to repeal enforcement of laws if people were too dumb to understand the difference between even and odd?

Perhaps if the parking laws are too tough to understand you may be overmatched just getting behind the wheel to begin with.

Thanks you for listening.

[Shorty]

Common sense does not prevail. All the new technology in the the world does not remove one ounce of snow/ice between point A and point B, It still takes the truck. plow, salt and driver. It still takes time to do this. Anyone who has any plowing experience knows that you fight the storm in the beginning by putting salt down prior to the snow bonding to the pavement, especially when the forecast says the snow will be wet and heavy and the temperature will be dropping to zero. This storm was a perfect example and look what happens when basic principles are not followed. All the political "yapping" about technology, communications,task forces, activating emergency forces does not remove the snow/ice. Following basic concepts with experienced plowing operations with common sense does. So Madison, keep slip sliding away . and enjoy your new policy . Seems to work well.

[Nick]

What I still haven't been able to figure out/comprehend is why trucks can't plow AND salt/sand at the same time. It seems that they do this with every other snowfall we have. Also, the story the city is giving about the temps being too cold for salt is one of the great lies of our time. If it was too cold, how come the Beltline and Interstate are clear?

[Christie]

While I'm in favor of reducing salt to protect the lakes, I agree that those are pretty intolerable externalities. We shouldn't be forced to choose between lake pollution/bodily safety and carbon emissions.

On the other hand, the attitude that we have to get our lives back to 100% productivity immediately following a major natural event strikes me as worth another look.

[wondering]

I also am not buying the "too cold for salt" line. While there is a temperature at which salt doesn't work, I do not believe we reached that temperature in this storm. My evidence? The UW Hospital put down salt on their icy, snow packed sidewalks and it was very effective. Why is their salt "better" than the City's?

[anon]

Shovels work at any temperature. How about those sidewalks downtown? Once, as Mr. Bond said, is not enough. Government and downtown businesses set a terrible example of not getting down to the pavement. Trying to walk on ice is no fun.

[Paul]

more on this subject next week.

[Katrina]

The only people who seem to be able to get around are those on bikes.....

[R.J.]

When is a blue-ribbon commission going to spend a week in Norway (with spouses in tow) to figure out the hip and minimalist way to maintain a city in winter?