Snow in Pueblo tests the patience of drivers

Mother Nature blanketed the roads in Pueblo Wednesday with snow.

The fresh powder on the ground forced people to go on a slower commute. As for people who live in residential areas, the city’s public works department won’t clear the snow off the road. That’s where Ron Pummill steps in.

“We have elderly woman that is in this block, like Virginia, she is in her 80s, half blind and can’t see, so we shovel her snow,” he said.

He and his friend decided to step up to make sure people in their neighborhood are safe.

“(We want people to be able to) drive, get out and go to work and pull out,” Pummell said.

Public works said it doesn’t have enough workers to take care of every street, because it said it has a dwindling budget.

“That is a bit of an issue — if we had a few more people we might be able to get maybe one or two more trucks out for that 12-hour shift,” Public Works Director Earl Wilkinson said.

But workers do take care of the busier roads like Northern Avenue, Prairie Avenue, and Eagleridge Boulevard. As it gets colder, the department said it feels it has enough salt, sand and other material to deal with Mother Nature.

“We have our equipment, our materials here and if need be we have money to buy a second round of materials, so we think we can handle it,” Wilkinson said.

Even though there is material to melt the snow, the city said the best advice it can give is to slow down during freezing temperatures.