Comparing snowplows in Western states
Having a surplus of plows doesn’t guarantee a better response to a heavy snowfall, a Colorado Springs official said Friday.
Corey Farkas, manager of the city’s Streets Division, continued to defend his crews’ performance in the face of public criticism after an early week storm dumped at least a foot of snow on the city.
Many residents said the city’s response could have and should have been better from its 40 crews who worked around the clock to clear major roads and streets.
“Well, I’m from the East Coast,” said Debra Zarecky, a resident. “I moved here 10 years ago and I can say that where we used to live, we got substantial snowfalls like this on a more regular basis, and the streets were plowed, salted and cleared much more quickly than they are here.”
Nick Gallimore had a similar opinion.
“I don’t think you guys prepare as well,” he said. “Where I’m from in Minnesota, the roads are always plowed — side roads and everything. I got stuck coming here today.”
Late Wednesday, the city switched its focus to neighborhood streets that had become frozen quagmires of snow. However, crews returned to major thoroughfares when more snow fell Thursday night.
The city had planned to plow side streets through the weekend but had not returned to the job Friday.
“We may be out there all of next week now,” Farkas said.
City crews routinely don’t clear neighborhood streets until there is at least 6 inches of snow on them. Farkas said snow packed heavily on pavement and gradually turned into slush by traffic is adding time to the job.
“It makes the street look like they haven’t been plowed when in fact they have been several times,” he said.
KRDO NewsChannel 13 compared plowing resources between Colorado Springs and three other cities in the region: Albuquerque, Salt Lake City and Denver.
Colorado Springs has 59 vehicles, 440,000 population and annual snowfall of 41 inches.
Albuquerque has 49 vehicles, 556,000 population and annual snowfall of 11 inches.
Salt Lake City has 45 vehicles, 191,000 population and annual snowfall of 56 inches.
Denver has 130 vehicles, 650,000 population and annual snowfall of 55 inches.
Farkas said he prefers to compare Colorado Springs to Denver.
“As far as lane miles plowed, we have equivalent size to Denver,” he said. “They actually have more total lane miles than we do, but we plow more of our lane miles than Denver does. Denver doesn’t get into (neighborhoods) unless they have 12 inches or more of snow.”
Farkas said few cities along the Front Range plow neighborhood streets at all.
It’s not practical, he said, for the city to invest more in plowing resources for storms that rarely produce a foot or more of snow.
