Snow Response in an Urban Setting Pat Kennedy, PE Denver Street Maintenance Road and Street Supervisors Conference October 15, 2013 Yakima, WA 2 Denver Agenda Population ~600,000 Metropolitan area 2.5 million Average snowfall 60 Snowiest of the 50 largest US Cities 2003-2004 38" 2008-2009 38" 2004-2005 39" 2009-2010 59" 2005-2006 30" 2010-2011 23" 2006-2007 72" 2011-2012 56" 2007-2008 46" 2012-2013 78" Level of Service Resources Routes Fleet Support Staff/Training Funding Weather Other Considerations Contingencies Outreach Published Plan Operation Walk-Through 3 4 Level of Service Pavement Condition Often a Political Solution Options Pavement Bare pavement Some accumulation No plowing Plowing 24/7 Shift restrictions Staffing Network All streets Selected routes Ancillary Bare Pavement Compact Snow Clear Wheel Paths Do Nothing 5 6 1
Available Resources Routes Plows Full size Light Heavy Equipment Graders Loaders Blowers Melters Blades/Bits Chemicals Type Storage Who? Internal Contracted/On Call Network LOS has been determined Individual truck capabilities Shift length Chemical capacity Proximity to storage Weather Vehicle speed/traffic How to split network and assign equipment 7 8 Routes Route Design 8 Hour shift 6 snow 25 lane-mile route 10 mph average speed ½ Hour pre trip ½ Hour post trip 1 hour lunch/breaks ½ hour travel to route 5 ½ hours of plowing 2 Cycles with 3 of snow per cycle 12 Hour shift 8 snow 25 lane-mile route 10 mph average speed ½ Hour pre trip ½ Hour post trip 1½ hour lunch/breaks ½ hour travel to route 9 hours of plowing 3 Cycles with 3 of snow to plow Geometrically logical Avoid dead heading Prioritization Denver, A, B, S (school) For full network, sector based routes Snow Storage Hauling 9 10 Network Districts 11 12 2
Routes Residential Routes 13 14 Residential Sectors Camps Material storage Liquid Dry Equipment Hot line Off season Crew rooms 15 16 Fleet Staffing In-house vs. contract Skills Trucks Spreaders Plows Quick bay Shift coverage Priority Shifts Chain of Command (NIMS/ICS) Realignment for nights Training Holidays Vacation Sick Union rules Support 17 18 3
11/4/2013 Funding Weather Fiscal Year Jan 1 to Dec 31 General Fund (L&E) $4,000,000 Overtime $300,000 Deicers $1,000,000 Climate Typical event Forecasting Total Budget $5.3 Million $8/citizen 19 20 Climate Weather Front What is your snow season? Where does the weather come from? Do you have micro-climates? Important factors to consider Frontal boundary Track of the Low Pressure center Wind speed and direction Humidity 21 22 Low Pressure Low Pressure H L 23 24 4
Extreme Event Forecasts Long Range- 1 week out NWS Accuweather The Weather Channel Gives a clue on what to expect Get in the mind set for switching to snow ops 25 26 Forecasts Forecasts Mid range- 3 days out National services Media Reasonable indication of start time Initial planning, equipment prep, notifications Short Range- 24 to 48 Hours out National Services Local Media Paid weather service providers Event start time, intensity, duration Snow planning meeting Crews and equipment ready to deploy 27 28 MDSS MDSS Maintenance Decision Support System Road Weather tactical forecasting system 24 to 72 hour window Accurate weather forecasts and point observations Expected pavement conditions based on weather and agency snow operations 29 30 5
MDSS MDSS 31 32 Forecast Log Doppler Radar Forecaster Start End High Low High Low Precip Prob. Precip Type Accumulation 3-16 3-16/17 3-17 MDSS Sunday midnight Monday late 45 31 36 29 100% snow 3"-4" Forecast A Sunday evening Monday afternoon 45 23 37 25 75% rain/snow 5"-10" Forecast B Sunday evening Monday evening 47 32 26 37 100% rain/snow 4"-8" TV 1 Sunday afternoon Monday evening 49 28 36 28 rain/snow "enough to shovel" TV 2 Sunday evening Monday evening 50 26 35 23 85% rain/snow 5"-10" TV 3 TV 4 TV 5 Sunday afternoon Monday evening 50 27 35 22 rain/snow 4"-8" Monday Sunday evening afternoon 49 28 38 21 rain/snow 5"-10" Monday Sunday evening afternoon 50 28 40 25 rain/snow 33 34 Other Considerations Contingencies Multi-use Structures Pedestrian Bridges Sidewalks On-Street Bike Lanes Narrow Streets ADA Accessibility Parking Lots Roundabouts Extreme Event Ice Emergency Services 911 Support Route Prioritization Major Routes Major Events Residential Streets Service Requests Hazards, medical 35 36 6
Ice Outreach Single Point of Contact Unified Message Informative Positive Media Training Multiple Outlets TV/Radio Print Web Brochure Facebook Twitter 37 38 Published Plan Walk-Through Long range forecast, 5-7 days prior Short range forecast, 1-2 days prior Pre-Event meeting, 24 hours prior Pre-Event preparation Initial Deployment Anti Ice Priority 39 40 Internal message Walk-Through A plowman who comes from Nantucket Saw a forecast from weatherman Puckett He fueled up his rig And started to dig And put all the snow in a bucket. We are looking at forecasts which are showing periods of rain and snow along with the temps to chill the brass monkey. It is not looking like a big event, but the temps could result in some light accumulation of snow or ice. Crews will be on standby entering this event. Walk-Through Shift Operations Day shift Night shift Standby Post Event clearing Equipment cleaning Sweeping Ice blading 41 42 7
Questions? william.kennedy@denvergov.org 43 8