City of Hastings Street Department Snow Plow, (Courtesy)
HASTINGS — Snow removal is essential to our community and provides safety for life and property; but it also takes time, money, planning, coordination and effort, so snow removal operations are planned and looked at all year long.
The City Streets Department has 509 lane miles for snow removal – including 47 cul-de-sacs. Plus 14 parking lots. The Street Department receives assistance from other city departments as well as contractors (when available) to complete snow removal.
Keys to the snow removal plan include equipment, routes, operators, spotters, contractors and coordination with other departments and other institutions.
The time frame for snow removal includes at least 5 hours for material spreading during light snow.
Plowing emergency snow routes takes 8-12 hours. All emergency snow routes are marked with a sign. During a snow emergency, parking is not allowed on these streets.
The timeframe for snow removal depends on the amount of snow, type of snow, timing of snow, future snow forecast, winds, assistance from other city departments and availability of contractors. This also means snow phase priorities can change.
There are four phases of snow removal:
• Phase 1 – Material spreading sand/salt in intersections, inclined areas, steep grades, around schools, and where needed.
• Phase 2 – Plowing all emergency snow routes and continued material spreading. Phase 2 is a snow removal emergency declaration (usually the snow is at least 3 inches but could be less if there is a lot of wind and drifting snow). The mayor declares the snow emergency.
• Phase 3 – Downtown snow removal – Burlington Avenue to Minnesota Avenue (between First Street and Fifth Street). This is the Central Business District and with no storage area for snow and limited drainage, the snow is plowed and then picked up and hauled away.
• Phase 4 – Residential snow removal: Snow plowing and material spreading throughout the entire town. Parking lot clean up.
The public can follow snow removal efforts using the snow removal tracker available on the snow removal page at cityofhastings.org.
The map will show active snow removal vehicles and their approximate locations within 30 minutes, where the snow removal vehicles have been during the last 12 hours in green, the last 12-24 hours in blue, the last 24-48 hours in orange and more than 48 hours in red.
The map does not show where the vehicles are going, but users can tell where they have been.
The data contained within this online application is not to be used as precise reference. Vehicles being tracked may not be participating in active snow removal. Other non-plow snow removal equipment and equipment from contractors may not be displayed on the map.
Equipment available for snow removal includes the following:
• 8 Dump trucks with mounted snowplows
• 3 Motor graders
• 5 Front end loaders (3 with plows)
• 4 Material spreaders (1 is mounted on a pickup)
• 1 Tractor with plow
• 1 Compact track loader
• 2 Snow blowers
• 3 pickup trucks with plows
• 2 Backhoes
• Contractors (when available: 4 plows, 2 loaders, 8 trucks for hauling only)
The public (homeowners, business owners and snow removal contractors) can help by blowing or pushing snow onto the yard instead of the street. Not only does pushing snow onto the street cause a traffic hazard, but it’s also counterproductive to the goal of clearing snow off public streets so the streets can be safely used. Snow piles at intersections are also a sight concern for intersection safety.
Other complications to snow removal include vehicles parked in areas that have yet to be cleared including on streets and in parking lots.
Vehicles can return to these areas following snow removal if snow has stopped falling.
Snow removal information is also available in a project at the city’s informational platform, EngageHastings: engage.cityofhastings.org.
