MADISON, Wis. — After any significant snow event, the City of Madison Streets Division gets a lot of complaints from residents wondering why their street hasn’t been plowed yet.
Bryan Johnson, recycling coordinator with the streets division, said the process of removing snow from residential areas is not as simple as just sending out plow trucks to neighborhoods.
“The entire city is chopped into about 60 different sub areas,” Johnson said. “All the sub areas get equipment at the same time. No one is assigned to be first, no one is assigned to be last.”
Johnson said when the snow starts to fall, 32 trucks are sent out on salt routes to clear snow from the main roads. Once three or more inches of snow has fallen and the storm nears its end, it’s all hands on deck with more than 120 pieces of equipment deployed to cover the residential areas. Johnson also said the involved in the snow plowing process are the same people who are handling trash and recycling, potholes, tree pickup, sidewalk cleanup, etc. He said it takes a lot of coordination and staff to juggle everything that needs to be handled during a snow event.
Snow plow drivers work around the clock for up to 16 hours, coordinating with employees through a remote system at the streets division headquarters on what routes still need to be done.
“Even for that initial plowing of 12 hours, there’s still cleanup work after that that needs to be done,” Johnson said. “We need to go back for parked cars or trailers that were in the road.”
Johnson compared the residents’ frustrations with the unplowed roads to the pandemic.
“It’s a circumstance out of all of our control that’s making our lives complicated,” he said. “It’s frustrating to have to experience that but we are doing what we can to rustle through it and get through. A little bit of patience and we will all get there.”
Johnson said he believes the snow plow drivers in Madison make good time considering the size of the city and how many roads need to get covered. Johnson said he hopes residents will understand that plowing snow is a long process and encourages people to check out the city’s website detailing the snow plow routes.
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