Curious Iowa: How do cities clear snow?

Snowstorms earlier this month dumped more than a foot of snow — in some cases, nearly two feet of snow — on parts of Iowa. The storm sent thousands of vehicles into ditches along highways and interstates, and snarled traffic on city streets.

The snow prompted several questions to Curious Iowa — a Gazette series that answers readers’ questions about our state, its people and the culture. People wanted to know how cities decide when to start plowing streets, and how often plow drivers take breaks.

Each city’s approach to snow removal is a little different, so The Gazette spoke with officials in Cedar Rapids and Central City to see how the size of a city may affect its decisions.

Preparing for winter storms starts in the fall

Long before the first snowflake falls, preparations for winter weather are being made. In September or October, salt and sand stockpiles are evaluated and more material is ordered. Cities assess what worked and didn’t work well the year before and make adjustments to plans.

Central City Public Works Director Trevyn Cunningham told The Gazette that in the fall, he calls the National Weather Service to get a rough idea of what to expect during the winter.

“This year, they basically give us a 50/50 of whether or not we were going to have a heavy rain or a heavy precipitation winter or a dry winter,” Cunningham said. “So, absolutely no help. But, you know, everything with weather is a guess.”

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Both Central City and Cedar Rapids officials told The Gazette that this winter, they are fully staffed for the first time in years. Plow operators need a commercial driver’s license (CDL), and they are trained on their routes. Cedar Rapids Streets Superintendent Brian McLeod said there can be things like manholes or cracks in the road that aren’t visible under a layer of snow.

“So we try to point those out, we try to mark them if we can so the operator knows that there may be something that could really wake them up if they banged into it along the route.” McLeod said.

Before a storm, streets are pretreated with brine. Brine coats the roads to make snow less likely to stick. Cedar Rapids has its own brine facility. In an email to The Gazette, Public Works Assistant Director Mike Duffy said that the city blends materials based on temperatures and what a weather event calls for. That may include mixing beet juice with salt to combat icy temperatures. McLeod said in a single week, the department can go through almost 20,000 gallons of brine.

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When are city plows sent out?

In Cedar Rapids, an incident management team monitors weather events, Duffy said. The team includes staff from Utilities, Solid Waste, Public Works and the fire and police departments.

Inside the City Services Center, street conditions are monitored with street view cameras that display intersections across the city. When a storm is anticipated, the streets division holds a meeting there, with members of the fire and police departments, to coordinate the response.

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Before a storm hits, an on-call supervisor monitors the weather event from this room. McLeod said they might leave to test the roads to help them decide when to call staff in to start plowing, but they also will get calls from police on patrol with updates on road conditions.

Cedar Rapids’ threshold to start plowing is as soon as things get slick. Plow operators start on main roads and move to secondary, mains that feed into the main roads. During significant storms, crews may need to make multiple passes on a route before moving on. It’s also common for routes to be tweaked depending on the storm.

“Then we have schools that we need to get by and then we work our way into our residential area,” McLeod said. “But we have to open up the city as a whole, the main areas, the main streets that people need to drive on before we move into the residential.”

Cedar Rapids has 72 streets workers, 24 sewer workers, four traffic workers and three forestry workers who help remove snow across the city.

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“The snow event dictates when our plows go out. In a best-case scenario, it snows, we plow overnight and roads are cleared in the morning for commuters.” Duffy said. “However, that doesn’t always play out that way. Every storm is different, but ideally, the best time to clear snow is after it stops.”

McLeod said they aim to clear Cedar Rapids within a 12-hour period from first to last snowflake.

Cedar Rapids covers more than 72 square miles, whereas Central City — with a population of 1,200 people — is about 1.1 square miles. Cunningham said it takes his three-person team 3.5 to 4.5 hours to clear Central City after snowfall has ended.

In Central City, plows are sent out when one inch of snow has accumulated and the temperature is cold enough that the snow will stick. Cunningham monitors snowfall from home. Once the threshold is met, he alerts plow operators that it’s time to go.

“I’ve had nights were we were expecting storm conditions and you get up at two in the morning and it’s not ready so you go back to bed,” Cunningham said. “You get up an hour and a half later and measure it again to see kind of where you are. You’re tracking the storm when you get up. So those can be some pretty restless nights.”

Cunningham said if more than three or four inches of snow is predicted, they will wait to start plowing until halfway through the storm or closer to two inches of snow has accumulated.

“Obviously, if we’re in an event where it’s coming down hard and you’re getting like half of an inch every hour, you have to start in the middle of the storm and then by the time you’ve done one swipe through, then you have to start over again,” Cunningham said.

Heavy snowfall leads to long days

Curious Iowan Jeffrey Schaefer, of Cedar Rapids, asked whether plow drivers are required to fill in a log book and follow the mandatory rest periods for CDL drivers.

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Cunningham said drivers are exempt from keeping a log book because they stay within 100 to 150 miles of the shop, but they do maintain hours for payroll purposes.

“We do try to follow the rest period guidelines,” Cunningham said. “We take breaks as often as possible, usually between switching between pieces of equipment, restroom breaks and to get food. These most recent storms have been extremely taxing but we are taking advantage of the break in storms to rest up now.”

Before McLeod became streets superintendent, he started as a laborer. He plowed snow for 17 years. He recalls the mental preparation it takes to get ready for a 12- to 16-hour day of driving in defense mode.

“Once those cars start moving around it gets dangerous for us,” he said.

McLeod said the biggest challenge plow operators face is time. It takes time to dig out after a storm but there are things residents can do to help. Moving cars off the road before a storm or moving cars when plows are working "speeds up our process immensely.“ He said if a plow driver doesn’t think they can make it down a street because of parked cars, they call a supervisor and report it. A smaller piece of equipment may be sent to that street.

“I think we try to do the best job that we can for the citizens of Cedar Rapids. We just ask that when there are snow events that you give those plow drivers the opportunity to do their job, be patient, give them space because we don’t want anybody to get hurt.” McLeod said. “And when people get impatient and get in a hurry, that’s when we have accidents and potential injuries and we just want stay away from that.”

Have a question for Curious Iowa?

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Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com