Jazsmin Halliburton
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The City of Columbia Public Works and Boone County Road and Bridge crews did their annual dry snow run Thursday to prepare for the winter weather season.
The purpose of the dry snow run is to get snowplow drivers used to the routes they will be taking and make sure equipment is up to standard for preparations once snow falls.
“Today gives us a chance to to have operators that are relatively new work with veteran operators kind of go over the equipment,” Richard Stone public works engineering and operations manager said. “Even though any of our plow drivers could operate in any part of the city, we do have assigned routes that we try to keep people on, so it gives them a chance to be familiar with those routes.”
Boone County plows will begin their dry run Thursday and continue through Friday. Boone County plows will drive on county roads that border or cut through city limits. There are 13 routes South and 13 routes north that the plows will go through, covering over 77 subdivisions.
During the day Boone County has around 26 staff members working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Greg Edington, the director of Boone County Road and Bridge, said that in previous years, staffing has been an issue for his team with them down nine positions. For the night shift, he said only 5 workers were able to go out to plow roads; now he said the department is able to send out 10 workers and are only down two workers.
The City of Columbia Street Division maintains about 1,465 lane miles of roads and 1,100 cul-de-sacs each winter. Priority routes make up more than 691 lane miles and connect residents to emergency services, hospitals, schools and major transit corridors.
Stone said the Street division has 34 trucks, but they typically use up to 30 depending on how severe the snow is. He said there will be between 8 and 30 crew working during each 12-hour shift. For the city, there are fewer than 5 workers who will be working their first winter season this year.
Both the city’s and county’s plow trucks can put up to 200 pounds of salt per lane mile on the roads.
The amount of salt placed on the roads is up to the driver’s discretion and how much traction is needed in those areas. Josh Reynolds, a Boone County snowplow driver, said he has been driving his route for a couple years, and he knows what areas need more treatment.
“In here you can see, we’re starting to go downhill, so I would I kind of crank my material up and really just put material to this,” Reynolds said.
Residents may see city snowplows throughout the rest of the day into Friday.
Last winter, the Public Works Department added five new snow-capable trucks to its fleet to improve reliability and efficiency. The new trucks replaced aging snow removal equipment.
Winter road maintenance is shared between Columbia, MoDOT, and Boone County. Reynolds said often times the roads overlap. Reynolds said he will usually finish out plowing roads even if in city territory to help out and make sure residents can drive out of their houses.
“If the state [or city] hasn’t been here, it’s okay, i’ll put my plow down, try to help another entity out,” Reynolds said.
For residents, consider parking cars in the driveway during snowy weather. Edington and Reynolds said that although drivers can work around cars on the street, it is hard to maneuver and often leaves cars covered in snow.
“Some of the subdivisions, they park on both sides, and it’s really, really hard to plow,” Edington said. “You have to push it up against the cars, and they don’t like that either.”
According to the National Weather Service in St. Louis, Columbia saw a total of 7.3 inches of snow last winter. The average snowfall in Columbia is 14.9 inches.
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