Public works staff at Town Hall have been going full throttle trying to remove snow from Huntsville roads and people are being asked to be patient.
“We know that you can’t see at the end of your driveway, we know that the corners are bad. Be patient. We’ve got a mild spell coming, we’re throwing [in] all of the resources that we possibly can,” said Huntsville’s acting Director of Operations and Protective Services, Steve Hernen
The Town has already burned through its winter road maintenance budget, has used up all of the over-time hours it budgeted for and has run out of sand and has had to restock. Compared to last year, Huntsville’s 16-person crew has been out 57 days either plowing or winging back snow banks so far this year, while last year they were out a total of 36 days.
“And every day in February we have either been plowing or winging banks back,” added Hernen.
He said the last two winters have been relatively normal and he’s hoping this year is simply a blip rather than the norm going forward. He said the municipality was hoping it could clear the snow with its own staff, rather than having to call in contractors but that’s become impossible.
“We now realize that we can’t. Our crews are just maxed right out just trying to keep the roads plowed,” said Hernen, adding that outside help has been hired to help remove the accumulated snow. Ten dump trucks will be brought in on Monday to haul snow off Huntsville’s main thoroughfares.
“We are predicting about eight nights worth of work. They are starting in town, they’re going to spread out from town, we’re going to hit some of the subdivisions that need to be done as well,” said Hernen, adding that at the same time the Town has hired two additional graders to start widening the rural roads and they’ll be starting that work this Thursday. “They’re going to be winging the banks back and trying to open up the intersections.” Town crews will also be working on that plan if it doesn’t snow, said Hernen.
The Town is expected to issue a press release on Thursday reminding people to make sure they are not parked on snow removal routes. If they are in the way, they’ll be tagged and towed, said Hernen.
He said the District is also working on a plan to take advantage of the mild weather expected to work on widening Main Street and Brunel Road.
While the numbers have not been firmed up yet, Hernen is predicting the Town could be as high as $280,000 over budget. To bring a snow removal crew in for the night costs more than $10,000 – that consists of ten dump trucks, a big snow blower and flag people. “So you’re basically talking nine, ten pieces of equipment and then 12 people. That’s about ten grand a night and we figure we’ve got about eight nights worth of that to get the town and the subdivisions cleaned back up. We’ve got about $35,000 in contracts being awarded for the graders for the next two weeks and then we’ve got our own additional overtime that we know of to get us through the winter. We’ve just spent another $55,000 on sand and salt because we were right out.”
Again, the Town has a plan in place and people are being asked to be patient while staff and contractors work on clearing up the snow accumulation, said Hernen.
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I think the men or women are doing a fantastic job. Most are on call and hop in a cold vehicle and go to do the best they can. My hat is off to all involved. From the drivers to the wing men to the mechanics that keep those suckers going. Hang in guys, spring is coming. ( we all pray) Motorists,, be patient.
I know the road maintenance folks are doing a great job with the time and equipment they have. They always do.
One observation going forward might be that if the design of some intersections and portions of roads was done with the amount of snow expected and the equipment available in mind then some relatively minor changes in the design would facilitate the snow removal to a large extent. Relocated signs, fixtures and other obstructions would allow a standard plow to wing back the intersections to a large extent without the need to bring in trucks and heavy equipment and haul the snow away (at great expense). It might be a good thing to look at the problem areas now with an eye to some minor changes over the summer so that next winter is that little bit easier for the road crews. If nothing else it should save us some money and make those intersections safer.