Colorado Springs street crews begin plowing some neighborhood streets Thursday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- City snow removal crews started a job that they often don't do after a snowstorm; they plow side streets in neighborhoods.

Officials require that a side street have at least six inches of accumulation to be plowed and many streets, particularly west of Interstate 25, meet that standard.

On this third day since the storm hit, crews have made enough progress clearing primary and secondary streets that they can be freed up to respond in neighborhoods.

A crew supervisor said that plows would be working on the west side of the city, from the Peregrine area north to Broadmoor Bluffs south.

Plowing on side streets is especially effective in neighborhoods with steep hills; clearing snow there makes driving easier for delivery trucks, trash trucks and emergency vehicles.

Ten crews will use pickup trucks equipped with plow blades to clear side streets.

"We do one pass in, one pass out," said Corey Farkas, the city's maintenance and operations manager with public works. "We have to go around cars parked on the street, and sometimes the snow is already so packed down by traffic that we can only do so much with it. Many cities don't plow their neighborhood streets but it's been part of our policy for as long as I can remember. People have come to expect it."

Farkas said that the side street plowing will continue through Friday and resume on Monday.