To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Daniel Sailer, Public Works Director
Title
2020 Snow Program Overview
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
Managing public infrastructure assets is about maximizing the value for the community within available finite resources. Understanding this value, which is subjective, is important in order to organize energies and resources in a focused manner toward maximizing this value. Through historical community input, the following is the value desired from the Town’s public transportation infrastructure:
• Low total lifecycle cost
• Reliability (consistency)
• Low downtime
• High safety
• Low environmental impacts
The management of snow and ice on our roadways, referred to as our Snow and Ice Management Program, focuses on the safety and low downtime elements of this value.
The formal Snowplowing and Ice Control Policy was adopted by Town Council in November 2008. The primary goal of the policy is to provide snow and ice control services to all Town owned public streets in an effort to facilitate emergency service access and vehicular movement throughout the community. The purpose of this item is to review the major points of the overall program.
Program operations can generally be broken into two basic parts: 1) Snow and ice management during the storm, and 2) Cleanup and overall ice-breaking. The first part involves plowing of snow while it’s snowing and continuing plowing after the snow stops until travel lanes are opened. During this first part, the application of material to minimize the bonding of snow to the pavement may be utilized, as well as using traction control materials at key locations. During the second part, the removal of snow in the downtown area occurs, along with the sweeping of sand that is placed. Finally, addressing ice build-up that occurs within the road is focused on.
The following graphic shows the general policy thresholds utilized to determine when snowplowing operations are commenced. The scale on the left is forecasted snow accumulation within the street in inches. This is an important distinction as snow forecasts are typically total amounts that occur on grass, and are higher.
Secondary streets (Priorities 3 and 4) may or may not be plowed when snow and ice control operations are initiated for primary streets. The criteria to initiate snowplowing on secondary streets involve a determination of whether the streets will be passable for vehicles based on the existing storm event. The Department’s goal is to complete this within ten (10) hours after snowfall has ceased. Temperatures and time of year will also be considered. No more snow will be plowed than is necessary to maintain two-way traffic.
A team of over 70 staff from the Public Works, Water, and Parks & Recreation departments are trained each year to respond to storm events. This additional staff allows for multiple shifts in the case of a blizzard or when “around-the-clock” operations are implemented. Approximately 14 Town staff will be used for a “typical” storm event.
§ Maps are available on the Town’s website showing which streets have been plowed during storm events. These maps do not show the real-time locations of vehicles for security and safety reasons.
§ Administrative personnel are able to view the system so that they can respond more accurately and effectively to citizens who call requesting information on whether their street has been plowed or when it will be plowed.
§ Supervisory personnel are able to expeditiously relocate the closest available equipment and personnel to respond to emergency requests, or to identify missed streets.
§ Snowplow driver safety is also enhanced by this system. Supervisory staff is able to monitor the location of all vehicles and can contact a driver if a vehicle is immobile for an extended period of time, to ensure that they are safe.
Citizens are able to view the map on the Town’s website to determine where the plows have been working and get an approximate time of when their neighborhood will be plowed. Public Works staff update the map on a regular basis during the storm event. These maps do not show the real-time locations of snowplow vehicles for security and safety reasons.
Notification and Outreach Efforts
A critical piece of information for citizens is not only where the plows have been but also when they are expected in a certain area. Therefore, staff developed a separate web-based map, using the Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) System data, to not only show which streets have been plowed but also identify, by sub-area/neighborhood, an expected time frame for when those streets will be plowed.
Discussion
Snow and ice control efforts are a basic responsibility of the Town to provide for travel and emergency service access. Snowplowing and ice control will be completed according to the attached Snow and Ice Control Policy. Snow storm events often cannot be predicted and are frequently of varying lengths and intensity, requiring different levels of resources. The intent of the program is to keep the public streets within the Town passable during adverse weather conditions and in a reasonably safe condition. The intent of the program is to address two key community values of the roadway asset class which are high safety value and low downtime.
The Town has classified Town streets based on the street function, traffic volume and importance to the welfare of the community. Two (2) categories of streets with four (4) priority rankings have been established.
• Priority 1 (Primary street category): Those streets classified as arterials, major collectors, commercial / industrial and commercial business areas. These are typically high volume streets that connect major sections of the Town and provide access for emergency fire, police, and medical services.
• Priority 2 (Primary street category): Those streets classified as minor collectors and school bus routes or those roads providing access to schools.
• Priority 3 (Secondary street category): Low-volume and residential streets.
• Priority 4 (Secondary street category): Cul-de-sacs and alleys.
Each year Town staff coordinate directly with the school district to gather feedback in determining the Priority 2 roadways given that bus routes may change from one year to the next. At times, the change in the bus routes may result in a Priority 2 street from last year becoming a Priority 3 street this year or vice versa. Due to the pandemic this year, the school district has greatly reduced their bus routes which would also greatly reduce the number of Priority 2 streets for the 2020-2021 snow season. These changes in bus routes from one year to the next can be challenging for staff and can create confusion for residents as the snow removal service levels between Priority 2 and Priority 3 streets are different. Due to these challenges, this year, staff is assessing the feasibility of developing a set of Priority 2 roadways that are set and will not change from one year to the next. This approach would help to provide a uniform service level while still also addressing nearly every bus route in Town.
The following graphic shows the general policy thresholds utilized to determine when snowplowing operations are commenced as determined by the Town’s Street Operations and Maintenance Division Manager. The scale on the left is predicted snow accumulation in inches.
The policy goal is to have streets “passable” to maintain two-way traffic. Department service level goals in this regard are:
Once snow has stopped:
o Primary Streets: All lanes passable within 10-hours, 95% of the time.
o Secondary Streets: Two passable lanes within 10-hours, 95% of the time for applicable snow events.
o Remove snow plowed to the center of streets in the downtown area within 72 hours after snow fall ceases, 90% of the time
Based on the Department’s 2020 Transportation Infrastructure Report Card, the Snow Program is currently clearing the Primary and Secondary Streets within about 7-hours of the snow stopping. The Department has received feedback from the Town’s transportation stakeholders indicating that the service levels outlined above are good. As a result, staff is recommending that the current service levels be maintained. By quantifying our service levels, staff is able to fairly easily assess needed resources to determine if a certain level of service change is desired. Because of finite resources, changes to service levels mean that adjustments are necessary in other areas if new resources can’t be added. Town staff will continue to monitor service level changes and report back to Town Council in future years.
Primary Streets
§ The primary streets are divided into thirteen (13) areas for snow & ice control efforts
§ Up to 13 Town personnel will be used to clear these routes
§ These are the heavy-duty, big plows & heavy equipment and will focus on clearing the Town’s arterials and collectors (Priority 1 and 2 streets)
§ Priority 1 and 2 streets make up 424 lane-miles of roadway or 59.5% of all lane-miles in the Town
§ Personnel assigned to these duties typically need a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)
Secondary Streets
§ The secondary streets are divided into ten (10) areas for snow clearing efforts
§ Up to 10 Town personnel will be used to clear these routes.
§ Light-duty plows are assigned and will focus on clearing the Town’s residential streets (Priority 3 and 4 streets)
§ Once the Priority 1 and 2 streets are completed, they may assist the light-duty plows with Priority 3 streets
§ Priority 3 and 4 streets make up 283 lane-miles of roadway or 40.5% of all lane-miles in the Town
§ Personnel assigned to these duties do not need a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)
§ Personnel have been trained to plow cul-de-sacs, so as not to block residential drive ways
Snowplowing operations will not generally be conducted for snowfall of less than two (2) inches. When snowplowing and/or ice control operations are initiated, all primary streets (Priorities 1 and 2) will be plowed.
Snowplowing will be completed for each storm event on secondary streets (Priorities 3 and 4) routes when the accumulation of snow or ice in the roadway is predicted to be more than four (4) inches between November 15 and March 15, or when the accumulation of snow or ice is predicted to be more than eight (8) inches in the roadway prior to November 15 or after March 15.
Secondary streets (Priorities 3 and 4) may or may not be plowed when snow and ice control operations are initiated for primary streets. The criteria to initiate snowplowing on secondary streets involve a determination of whether the streets will be passable for emergency vehicles based on the existing storm event. Temperatures and time of year will also be considered. When deployment to secondary streets is warranted, the primary objective during a storm event is to provide a passable lane for emergency response. To stay ahead of storm accumulation, this is accomplished in the most efficient manner possible in the least amount of time to ensure the fastest emergency response times achievable. Therefore, inefficiencies of “custom” plowing operations that would include plowing snow from shady sides to sunny sides, or multiple passes is not achievable during the event.
Plowing operations typically occur at night while it is snowing which does not facilitate operators anticipating where particular areas will be in the sunshine during different parts of the snow season. Also, plowing all snow to a future sunny side during an event may create an impassable depth of snow until such snow melts. In the days following the storm, crews may return to areas where freeze - thaw cycles have caused icing problems and employ ice abatement techniques. These techniques include the use of specialized equipment, an Ice Breaker that can efficiently crush ice allowing it to be plowed to areas where previously plowed snow has melted. The winter season of 2011-2012 was an unusual winter that included major events followed by long periods of freeze - thaw which exacerbated town-wide icing. The Town purchased this Ice Breaker to specifically address icing in a much more efficient manner that allows faster response times to these conditions town-wide. In 2017 due to the success of the program the Town purchased an additional Ice Breaker to further increase levels of service.
The Public Works Department is the primary Town department responsible for snow and ice control operations, however, a team of more than 70 staff from the Public Works, Water and Parks & Recreation departments are trained each year to respond to storm events. Approximately 19 Town staff will be used for a “typical” storm event. This additional staff allows for multiple shifts in the case of a blizzard or when “around-the-clock” operations are implemented.
Budget Impact
All items inclusive to snow plowing operations are included in the Public Works Department budget to maintain current levels of service.
Staff Recommendation
According to the latest community survey data, the current program operations are meeting the needs of the community in an efficient and cost effective manner. Public Works staff is recommending that the current policy and program operations remain in effect.
Proposed Motion
This agenda item is for information and feedback purposes only.
Attachments
Attachment A: Snowplowing and Ice Control Policy