MISSOULA — Living in Montana, we are all used to driving in the snow. But, each year, the beginning of winter can be a bit of a learning curve.
MTN caught up with the City of Missoula’s Public Works Department about how they tackle winter road conditions.
“We are out there when we get these snow events, we're committing all of our resources,” said Brian Hensel, deputy director of Public Works’ streets division. “But, we still can't get everything done in the blink of an eye.”
Missoula’s larger roads are sorted into a priority system for plowing. High-traffic roads, like Reserve, Higgins and Broadway, are priority one, meaning crews attend to them first. Less busy roads, like Front Street, are priority two.
“They will start on their priority ones. So they will do those first, and then they will leave them once they've been adequately sanded, de-iced and are safe to do so. Then they'll go to the priority twos in each area that the whole city is divided off into,” Hensel explained.
Residential streets are handled outside of the priority system by crews with smaller pickup plows.
“They'll start at one side of their area, say on this snow event, and then they'll plow every local street they encounter as they go through the area as efficiently as possible,” he said. “Say the next snow event, then they'll start on the other side of their area and go back and do the same process, just going a different direction so that we try to get equal service in those local streets as best we can.”
Crews work long hours and overnight shifts. Still, Hensel said that taking on Missoula’s roads is no small task, especially in heavy snow. Crews cannot move on to another street until the one they are working on is safe.
"The guys will get it all done, plowed and de-iced and 20 minutes later, it looks like we weren't even there. Well, they just can't leave. They can't just say ‘well, we did Reserve, we're going to the next one,’ or Higgins or Russell, any of them,” Hensel said. “It’s a matter of timing. The big thing that I always caution the public is that we can't be everywhere all the time and we can't de-ice and sand every square inch of asphalt.”
As crews work to clear the roads, there are steps to take to keep everyone safe. Hensel recommends not passing plows within the city and watching where you shovel snow, to make sure it does not end up in the street. There are also ways to make driving in winter conditions safer.
“I just would like to emphasize to the public, please drive careful,” he said. “If you have the means, get good snow tires for your vehicle, or even, they make some passenger car chains that are kind of a cable system. They work really well. Keep those with you. Keep an emergency kit in your vehicle in case you do get stuck. Just be ready for winter. We all live in Montana and we still can have severe winters here in Missoula.”
