I've come to understand that the accepted practice for clearing public roads of snow is this: first pass, clear two lanes on all roads, and for critical infrastructure: airport, ferry terminal, public safety building, harbor, school, water and sewer treatment plants. Second pass: widen the roads, pushing back the snow in order to make more room for more snow. If equipment and personnel is available, the state sends out a loader to punch holes in the berms along the sides of the road that allows plows to take advantage of gravity to dump snowloads more frequently.
Gravity is a very important element in snow clearing. The plow or blade carries a heavy load of snow. Snow drops into openings created by driveways - often open because the property owner has labored or paid for labor to create the passageway. Plows heading downhill carry more snow than plows heading uphill because they can. Gravity at work again. Plows heading downhill, carrying a load, intersecting with driveways, will drop more snow into the downhill driveway
than the uphill driveway.
Again, gravity. And if the driveway slopes down, the snow may be flung quite a ways. Gravity is intractable.Neither Borough nor State plowing policies require berm mitigation. Some Haines Borough residents question this, citing personal health and financial costs incurred from clearing berms as well as impaired access to property.
One resident has suggested that that second pass, which tends to toss chunks of solidified snow into the driveway opening, could be "optional." Could it be? I don't know. But perhaps it's time to find out. I suggest that we convene a snow plowing symposium and learn about the constraints, opportunities, and costs that may be associated with removing constraints and taking advantage of opportunities. Clearly, now is not the time to call State and Borough operators and supervisors away from snowplowing. But we should do it when the weather breaks and before the annual budget is finalized - for this I can guarantee - increases in level of service require either increases in cost or reallocation of resources.
Thank you for your attention to this issue, Mayor Scott. Your personal involvement has already made a positive difference. How the streets are plowed is a public health and safety issue that affects everyone in the community.
ReplyDeleteUpdated policies in the Borough would be useful--both State and Borough. Perhaps there could be some joint agreements between the Borough and the State in areas of overlapping responsibility? Perhaps a point-person to call within the community would be useful--someone that would return calls and coordinate communications on this issue? Perhaps the State and the Borough could itemize their budget and equipment needs more clearly so the public can support this?
While sometimes a high-speed by the plows may be necessary due to big, fresh snowfalls and a lot of miles to cover, many times a slower-speed and a more courteous policy would be more helpful. For example, once roads are cleared and folks have already plowed or shoveled their driveways/berms and there is no fresh snow, the plows could work to avoid creating fresh berms and/or be responsible for clearing any new berms created at that time, particularly when frozen blocks of ice are involved.
Homer has a user-friendly snow-plow policy posted on the web.
"While we do, most times, operate our snow removal equipment with"snow gates" to minimize snow berms, there are periods when we experience heavy and/or wet snow falls that require removal of our snow gates so we can plow in a timely and efficient manner. We will, time and manpower permitting, return to assist you with the removal of snow berms."