City of Reedsburg Snow Plowing Policy
City of Reedsburg Snow & Ice Control Policy
Approved by Common Council: 6/10/2013
GENERAL
The ability to react promptly and decisively to varying winter weather conditions with regard to snow removal and ice control on City streets is recognized to be an important and necessary function of government for the safety and well-being of the public. The following Policy has been established to provide information for the public and establish guidelines for Public Works staff to follow in order to ensure consistent practices for snow and ice control during winter storm events. The Department’s goal is to have all public roadways, parking lots and publicly maintained sidewalks passable within a reasonable amount of time after a given winter event. Plowing priorities reflect a commitment to insure that key roads are kept open to serve critical facilities. Each decision to mobilize City forces for the clearing and control of snow and ice is a judgment call based on the particular weather conditions combined with past experience along with the resources available at the time, and therefore may not adhere strictly to this general policy.
BACKGROUND
The City of Reedsburg maintains approximately 50 centerline miles of street 11 public parking lots, 1.7 miles of cemetery roads and one airport. Snow and ice control is accomplished with 7 public works plowing units. In order to reasonably meet the public’s expectations the following Policy will apply:
READINESS
The Public Works Director is normally in charge with the supervisory duty to see that all equipment and personnel are ready for winter street maintenance and that sufficient quantities of salt and de-icing material are available.
ROAD SALT (DE-ICING MATERIAL) APPLICATION
Because of environmental requirements/concerns and economical restraints, it is not the City’s intent to provide “bare pavement” driving conditions at all times and at all locations during the winter season. City wide application of road salt will generally be done, however, salt applications will be held to a minimum, as determined by the Public Works Director based on the type of storm, roadway conditions, temperature, effectiveness of application and seasonal reserves.
Minor Collector, local and cul-de-sacs will be treated with a sand /salt mixture after plowing is completed unless it is determined by the Public Works Director to use straight salt.
PRIORITY
Priority 1 – Arterials, Major Collectors, steep grades and areas around schools
(These roadways will get continuous salt)
Priority 2 – Minor Collectors
Ambulance Garage, Police Station & Fire Stations
Priority 3 Local Streets and Cul-de-sacs
Priority 4 Alleys
Priority 5 Parking Lots
(Some lots will be plowed early due to parking situations)
Priority 6 Cemetery
Priority 7 Airport
16 HOURS MAXIMUM
In and effort to protect the public and the City’s DPW staff against harm a policy of 16 hours max followed by 8 hours of rest will be acceptable practice. The Department will make every effort to abide by the requirement however, there may be an extreme event where following the requirement could put the public safety at a greater risk than following the requirement. When these conditions warrant such a decision, the Public Works Director, Mayor, Police Chief and Public Works Foreman may all be involved in the decision.
PROCEDURE
Notification of Road Conditions
Normal Working Hours - Street conditions will be monitored during the Department of Public Works normal working hours (7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) by the Public Works Director and PW Foreman or his/her designee.
Non-Working Hours – During non-working hours the Reedsburg Police Department will monitor changing street conditions and will promptly notify the Public Works Director or his/her designee of icy conditions or snow accumulation causing slippery conditions.
Depending on the severity of the situation an appropriate number of trucks will be dispatched to begin operations. The Public Works Director or his designee shall make the final decision when to dispatch plowing operations.
Standard Ice Control & Snow Plowing Procedures
The DPW Superintendent may, after being notified by the Police Department and reviewing the necessity for ice control or plowing, call by telephone the necessary personnel and give them instructions.
The City personnel normally involved in snow plowing and ice control operations includes all DPW workers.
Crews will begin salting and/or plowing based on priority listing.
If a snowstorm begins in the afternoon or early evening, the main arterial streets will be kept open and citywide plowing/salting operations will be started later in the evening when traffic volumes have decreased.
Snowplowing procedures in the downtown business district will vary depending on the amount of snow accumulations:
It is impossible to prevent snow from being pushed into driveways when the streets are plowed. Due to limited parking restriction and enforcement, the Department of Public Works needs to make several passes down a street over a several day period in order to get the snow to the curb. Failure to get the snow to the curb can result in narrowing of the roadways and an increase of flooding potential when the snow melts.
In order to avoid damage to the curb-side mail boxes, snowplow trucks must keep a safe distance away. It is expected that property owners will have to clear around mailboxes.
The City DPW will not remove snow from cross-walk radius's and handicap ramps. This is the responsibility of the abutting property owners.