NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — City of Hutchinson Public Works Director Brian Clennan explained to Hutch Post that there was a lot more that went into their response to last week's snowstorm than just clearing roads.
"Along with the snow, we also experienced a lot of power outages, which impacted numerous traffic signals," Clennan said. "It impacted numerous lift stations. Also, it impacted the wastewater treatment plant. We had folks out running generators to get that infrastructure up and running during that storm event. Some of the challenges in facing that storm included the fact that our street division is operating with only 19 of its 33 positions filled, which really limited the number of snowplows that we could get out there on the streets at any one time. Despite that challenge, we did have snowplows running for 50 continuous hours, from about Monday at 6 p.m. to Wednesday at 8 p.m."
There were two shifts of snowplow drivers working 12 to 14 hours. Spot treatment began on Thursday. A reminder that the city does not plow every street.
"Our major focus is on our major corridors," Clennan said. "That's Main Street, K-61, 30th Avenue, those types of areas, and also the downtown business district. That's really where we focused all of our attention. What we have are our primary snow routes, which again, are those major corridors, our arterial and our collector streets. Our goal with the way we've set up our primary routes, is to make sure that every home is about four blocks from a plowed street. We do not plow residential streets, except for some of those around our schools."
Areas on those routes with stubborn ice will also still take some time to clear, as the cold makes salt application less effective.
"Salt will melt ice differently at different temperatures," Clennan said. "At 30 degrees, one pound of salt will melt 46 pounds of ice in five minutes. At 15 degrees, one pound of salt melts six pounds of ice in one hour. The colder it gets, the less effective that salt is and that's one of the challenges with this particular storm."
If the forecast temperatures for Wednesday actually happen, a lot of clearing should be able to be accomplished on those main routes as the temperature rises back toward the freezing mark.
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