SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS 2017 PUBLIC SERVICES DEPARTMENT MAINTENANCE DIVISION 1
SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS The following are the standard operating procedures f snow removal operations. 1. Plowing operations will be initiated when snow depth on streets reaches a maximum of four to five inches (unless it is readily apparent that this action will not be warranted by changing weather conditions) or at approximately 2 inches if continuing storms are predicted. The decision on each situation is assigned to the Maintenance Manager, or his designee with approval of the Public Services Director. The decision on termination of plowing efforts shall be similarly vested. 2. Plowing routes will be established on the basis of the following Priority List: Snow Plowing - Priority List: 1. Principal arterials (Seltice Way) 2. Minor Arterials (Spokane, Beck, Poleline, Chase, Idaho, Greenferry, Expo Parkway, Mullan, McGuire, Pleasant View) 3. Major Collectors (3 rd Ave., 4 th Ave., 15 th Ave., 16 th Ave., 26 Ave., Empire Center, Bluegrass, Hope, Maplewood, Jacklin, Riverbend, Spokane north of Poleline, South Pleasant View, Meyers, Ross Point) 4. Hills and curves 5. School bus routes (other than arterials or collectors) 6. Minor Collectors (See Roadway map for details) 7. Improved residential streets (local access roads) 8. Cul-de-sacs 9. Unpaved residential streets will not be plowed unless snow exceeds a depth of 6-8 inches. 3. Plowing snow on residential streets will be performed in the easiest, most efficient manner. Residents are advised to keep cars off the street during major winter storms. Plow crews will use their judgment as to the best procedures. 4. Plow operators cannot avoid filling driveway entrances during plow operations. Senior citizens and those with chronic medical conditions that prevent them from doing their own snow removal shoveling may contact the City of Post Falls Street Department for Information on available assistance. 5. Loading and hauling snow from congested areas; such as, the Central Business District (CBD), may be performed after the bulk of the city has been plowed, and when weather patterns permit. Chemical treatment in the Central Business District areas shall begin, as the Street Department deems appropriate. 2
6. Seltice Way from Pleasant View to approximately 300 linear feet east of Cedar - Snow may be plowed to the center turn lane. If accumulations are great, the entire turn lane will be dedicated to snow removal. SUMMARY OF PROCEDURES FOR SNOW EVENTS 1. Snow and ice control, plowing, and removal is considered an emergency operation. 2. All employees of the Public Works Department are subject to on-call for snow control duties. If required, all city-owned equipment shall be available for snow/ice control. 3. Scheduled vacation and regular days off are subject to cancellation. 4. The National Weather Service will be monitored periodically by street supervisors in advance of anticipated snowfall of one inch or greater. During this period final preparations will be made in response to snow alert conditions. 5. The Maintenance Manager or his designee shall monitor services or call the Weather Bureau anytime it is felt additional updates are needed. 6. If 0-2 inches of snow are expected, Supervisors are to operate under snow alert conditions and put out all snow and ice control equipment scheduled for that shift only immediately after snowfall begins. 7. If more than 2 inches of snowfall are expected, the same operation as in (6) above is to be followed until two inches of snowfall on roadways are reached, and/or the decision is made as to plow snow. During the 0-2 inches state of the storm, all final preparations for all snow control operations will be made. 8. Refer to Snow Control Operations Options for Actions below. Emergency Phone Numbers City Hall Switchboard - All Departments 773-3511 General Emergency 911 City Administrator 457-3307 Street Department 773-1722 Water Division 777-9857 Fleet Maintenance 773-1722 Kootenai County Fire and Rescue 777-8500 Post Falls Police Department 773-3517 Wastewater 773-1438 Kootenai County Sheriff s Department 664-1511 Idaho State Highway Maintenance (ITD) 772-1200 Idaho State Patrol 772-6055 Winter Road Reports 772-0531 3
Weather - National Weather Service - recording 509 624-8905 509 353-2368 SNOW AND ICE CONTROL PROCEDURES RESPONSIBLE DEPARTMENTS Primary responsibility for performance and coordination of ice and snow control of city streets rests with the Street Division. During the snow season, usually mid-november through mid- March, the Street Division will provide 24-hour monitoring of street conditions and will respond to these conditions in accordance with the procedures outlined in this manual. When conditions warrant more personnel than can be supplied by the Street Division, the Parks Department and the rest of the Public Works Department will provide personnel and equipment. In addition, the Fleet Maintenance Division will provide equipment maintenance and service as required on a 24-hour basis during critical ice and snowstorm control periods. The Street Division may staff a night shift normally beginning in late November and continuing through February or as conditions warrant. The night shift will consist of a supervisor to monitor road conditions and three heavy equipment operators whose primary function is to plow snow, spread sand and chemicals, as required, or duties as assigned. The night shift will also consist of mechanics as needed to perform preventative and corrective maintenance on snow removal equipment and to spread sand or chemicals, if needed. In extreme weather conditions, the Maintenance Manager may elect to forego all other duties and operate two shifts. NORMAL OPERTIONS PROCEDURES Roadways under this condition are not ice or snow covered, but they can be either wet or dry. During this condition, supervisors will monitor the roadways, particularly if road surfaces are wet, to determine when freezing might occur. Monitoring activities used will consist primarily of monitoring weather forecasts, temperature, moisture conditions and actual conditions of the roadway. At any time during this condition, should freezing or snowfall conditions begin; the Maintenance Manager or his designee will automatically implement SNOW ALERT procedures. During Normal Operations, the Street Division personnel will be on duty but involved in maintenance activities other than ice and snow control. When conditions begin to change to SNOW ALERT, these crews will be re-assigned in accordance to needs. SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS 1. NORMAL OPERATIONS 4
Roadways can be dry with surface temperatures either above or below freezing or roadways can be wet with surface temperatures above freezing. (Normal Street Department operations) 2. SNOW ALERT Frozen moisture, freezing rain, or 0-2 inches of snowfall on roadway surface and snowing. (Use of snow and ice control equipment is warranted at this time.) 3. SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS Options for Action 1. When 0-2 inches of snow are present, deicing and sanding operations will commence. 2. When greater than 2 inches of snowfall on the roadway surface and more snow expected in next 24 hour period, snow plowing operations will commence. (City wide snow plow operations following the Snow Plow Priority List). 3. When 4 to 5 inches of snowfall on the roadway surface or 3 inches of snowfall on the roadway and more than 4 inches predicted, snow plowing operations will commence. (City wide snow plow operations following the Snow Plow Priority List) 4. Periodic deicing and sanding operations will continue as needed during and after snow operations. 5. Snow removal from stockpiled area will be removed as needed from the right-of-way. MAJOR STORM EVENTS A major storm event is classified as a sustained snow event in excess of 12 inches over a 24 hour period, or as determined by the maintenance manager. When a major storm event occurs suddenly or is predicted by the national weather service, the City of Post Falls will move into a Major Storm Operations Plan. The Major Storm Operations Plan will include the following: 1. Increased communication with the Police Department. 2. Increased communication with the Post Falls Public Information Officer and the public through social media communications. 3. Recruitment of additional qualified equipment operators from other divisions within the Public Services Department. The operations will go into a 16-18 hour operation with Streets Maintenance Division staff operating from between 8 and 12 hours, and fill-in operators from other divisions covering the remaining portions of the 16-18 hour period. The Streets Division operators shift will run at full staffing of up to 12 employees. The fill-in operators will run a reduced staff shift of up to 3-5 operators. This will allow for 16-18 hours of operations during major storm events. 5
4. City crews will combine efforts with the Post Falls Highway District to provide additional plow runs on Seltice Way. SPECIAL STREET CONDITIONS Sanding/salting/chemical operations shall remain a high and concurrent priority. No attempt can be made to prevent snow berms from forming at driveways. Drivers will utilize common sense and good judgment when plowing residential areas; plow speeds will be adjusted so as not to create greater berms than are necessary; speeds adjusted to fit conditions. Likewise, good judgment shall be utilized when plowing along curbs with sidewalks directly abutting. It is general policy to plow snow to the gutter and not onto the sidewalk. This will allow for pedestrians to safely utilize the sidewalks. Also, all reasonable efforts will be made to keep ADA approaches to sidewalks open for pedestrian access. Efforts will also be made to during the plowing operation to keep storm drain inlets open and to not block mailboxes. Concurrent with the general plowing operations will be the cleaning of berms in the intersections. Those employees involved are also utilized to complete the plowing of cul-de-sacs and City- owned parking lots. The operators will primarily utilize front-end loaders. Cul-desacs are the lowest plowing priority until City-wide operations are complete. A contact source for information regarding snow removal is 773-1722. ROUTES Definitions of operational areas and individuals assigned an area are included as 2017 Snow Map. HOURS OF NORMAL OPERATION Normal Work Day Hours: 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with single operator early shift starting at 3:00 a.m. Office hours are 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. On-call hours are: 3:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. SNOW CONTROL CENTER During the winter season, the Street Division will provide the following services: To report hazardous areas, intersections, hills, etc., during normal business hours, the Street Department designee(s)* will take messages. Sand/magnesium chloride trucks and plows will be dispatched as per ability to respond and the previously discussed priority system. 6
On-call call-ins after 3:30 p.m. may be determined by the Police Patrol Supervisor, or by the Maintenance Manager that conditions require an after-hours call out. DISCRETIONARY SNOW-CONTROL PROCEDURES The following areas will be plowed by the Maintenance Manager, or by his designee at his discretion. These areas of high congestion are a secondary priority. It is impractical to schedule a route with a lot of congestion due to the need for plowing when parking lots are not used or use is at a minimum. Plow crews will generally be pulled from normal routing, as the conditions require. 1. City Hall parking lot 2. Police Department parking lot 3. Animal Control The Senior Citizen Center presently contracts out their plowing, although they do occasionally call for assistance for sanding or magnesium chloride. If possible, the City will provide assistance. NEWS MEDIA New media will be contacted during snow storm events through the City of Post Falls Public Information Officer. The PIO will communicate ongoing snow control operations with the public and media through social media. ORDINANCES The following ordinance applies to plowing snow into the streets: (Municipal Code 10.48.010) It is unlawful for any operator of snow removal equipment or the owner of any land upon which snow removal equipment is operated to place or otherwise permit, sanction, approve or cause the placement of any fallen snow onto public property or rights-ofway upon its removal from privately owned lands. (Ord. 696 1 (part), 1993) (Municipal Code 10.48.020) Any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a misdemeanor. (Ord.696 (part), 1993) 7
ROADWAY CLASSIFICATIONS 8
9