Thread by @shayshinecastle

Next: Seems strange to be talking about it when the ground is dry, dry, dry... but presumably we'll get snow at *some* point this year.

It's the city's snow/ice removal plan! documents.bouldercolorado.gov/WebLink/DocVie…

Lots of good numbers in here, which I like.

Boulder spent $1.47M in 2021 for snow/ice removal
The city has:
17 plow trucks (4 pairs for 4 primary routes, 9 plows for other routes - 8 secondary, 1 primary)
330 lane miles get plowed (52.6%)
2 trucks, 1 UTV plow multi-use paths

164 miles of on-street bike lanes (83%) and 72 miles of multi-use path (100%) get plowed

204 crosswalks, curb cuts and 42 bus stops are hand-shoveled via contracts

Primary routes = regional transportation corridors

Secondary routes = access to schools, hospitals, RTD and connections to primary routes

Boulder got 103.1" of snow in the 2020-2021 season
- 17 storm events, 67 response shifts
- 2,252 tons of granular ice slicer, 20,000 gallons of magnesium chloride, and 140,500 gallons of Salt Brine were used.

About 43% of 328 lane miles were swept following storms (within 72 hours following a storm’s end).

City got 191 inquiries for snow removal assistance requests/complaints. 42% of the total season requests were for roadways that are not on a route

Which maybe helps explain why only 58% of residents rated snow removal positively in the 2018 community survey. That's actually up from 54% in 2016, and in line with nat’l average

The 2019-2020 season was snowier: 152.1” which was actually the “largest snow accumulation season on record” - 24 events total, 76 shifts

But there were many multi-day storms in 2020-2021, so the cost dif wasn't that much

“This was due to fewer storms that were rather large and cold for a longer period of time, and we had fewer severe events that brought light accumulation but required ice mitigation”

City only pre-treats with de-icer if it doesn’t rain before it snows since rain dilutes material. It gets removed by street sweepers, if possible, 72 hrs after storm so less washes into watershed
Fort Collins, Longmont, Denver, Loveland, Lakewood, and CDOT all use these materials

Also forgot to say when we were talking about what roads get plowed and why... “when the forecast calls for more than 8" of snow or 3 days of temps below freezing, some add'l residential streets are plowed as 'conditional routes' subject to available staffing and other resources”

A lil more info about the bus stops/curbs/crosswalks that get shoveled... the city only does 38 of those (via contracts). Volunteers actually do more: 54(!) via the city's (much-mocked) Shovel-A-Stop program

I'll be updating this with new info, but the basic principles of this story still stand: Pretty proud of this one. boulderbeat.news/2019/12/14/bou…

Friend asking about the volunteer shovel program: We wouldn't have ppl volunteer to shovel snow in the streets or on city sidewalks. Why are we requiring volunteer for that?

Why isn't it auto incorporated into what we do?

Scott Schlecht: We're shoveling everything with 50+ riders per day. The really low-use bus stops are the ones we're using volunteers for.

Friend: Idk that ridership cutoff makes sense. It's hard for ppl to get through snow. How much more $$ would it cost to increase that service?

Benjamin: Why aren't hospitals on a primary route?

Schlecht: Foothills and Arapahoe (where the hospital is) are primary routes.
Benjamin: So it's redundant?
Correct, Schlecht says.

Benjamin: We had 30% fewer storm events last year but only 1% less in cost.. why?

I already addressed that in an above tweet (many multi-day storms) but another answer is that, since 2016, the city sends out a full fleet for *every* snow event. Staffing is expensive

Winer: When I was campaigning, a lot of ppl said snow/ice removal was their No. 1 issue. It seems like ppl do want snow/ice removal on their streets. How can we increase the amount of streets that get plowed?

And what can we do about enforcement? City requires snow to be shoveled in front of private property within 24 hrs after a storm ends. It's been the source of much consternation.

"Over 50% of sidewalk contacts are complaint-driven," Schlecht says. We're adequately staffed, but it gets tricky in a big storm. "Their main goal is not to write tickets; it's to get sidewalks open safely."

Yates: We bumped up the snow/ice budget from ~$1.1M to $1.4-$1.5M a couple years ago (after that big 2019 Thanksgiving storm). So it's really about how much we want to spend, and how we balance that with other priorities.

Wallach: Does salt brine have any positive impact if we don't plow? Could we put it down on neighborhood streets that don't get plowed?

Schlecht: We can try it. I'd be concerned about melting and re-freezing, so let's test it out first.

Schlecht: During March 2021, we did plow every residential streets. But that had the perfect conditions: Warm asphalt underneath, dry snow, dry conditions. We could get to all of them.

We plowed every one in 2019, too, but that snow was completely dif. It got packed down and icey and our trucks just couldn't get it, Schlecht says.

Folkerts: Do we map any areas of concern for water quality and ecology, where we might want to put down less de-icing material?

Schlecht doesn't know; promises to come back with info.

Yates reminding us of that all the city's 2017 snow plows are now named, courtesy of Boulder's kids. bouldercolorado.gov/news/winners-a…

That seems like a fine place to leave this one (plus they're done anyway).

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