Clearing away snow and battling icy road conditions can be a full-time winter job for the Westerville Public Service Department.
City of Westerville
The Westerville Public Service Department (WPSD) is split into four subdepartments: street, fleet, utility and environmental maintenance, all of which work year-round to maintain the city’s infrastructure. These groups are tasked with flushing hydrants in the spring, sealing pavement in the summer and blowing leaves in the fall.
In the winter, snow removal usually falls in the hands of the street crew which can handle roughly an inch of snowfall, but when snow reaches three inches, it takes the entire WPSD team to clear it. Typically, employees are assigned a morning shift, but during heavy snowfall conditions, shifts are split into two 12-hour runs to plow the roads until the storm passes and the snow is cleared.
The plowing process
The removal process begins by spreading brine on the roads, which breaks bonds between the street and snow, leaving white stripes on the pavement. While the WPSD is a well-oiled machine when it comes to snow removal, unexpected conditions can occasionally make things tricky.
“When there’s a rain event and it turns to snow, that’s always a challenge because you can’t pre-treat during that,” says Eric Voll, interim director of Public Service. “You have to wait for it to stop raining before you can start treating, so you’re kind of behind.”
In addition to rain, wind can also play a factor in the removal team’s progress.
“Last winter, we got a snowstorm right around the Christmas break. We were working a lot of hours and not making a lot of progress because of the amount of wind,” explains Voll. “It wasn’t a lot of snow, it was just the drifting.”
City of Westerville
Luckily, the crew has a great deal of experience with these conditions, so the largest challenge remaining is the planning and management of equipment. Being careful is always the crew’s top priority.
“We get pretty good positive feedback. If something’s not working well, you hear about that,” he says. “The guys are trying to do their job to the best of their ability, so if something’s hindering them from that, they definitely let us know.”
Along with equipment management, Voll’s role at Westerville includes funding operations, organizing training sessions and bringing in new operators. His versatile role allows him to see many behind-the-scenes instances, including what the street crew does to remove the snow in Westerville’s Uptown area.
“We’ll go in and remove snow from our Uptown area when we get a larger snowfall because there’s nowhere to put it,” says Voll. “That’s usually something the guys like to do because it’s different. We go in, clear a bunch of snow out, bring it back to our facility and it goes into a debris bin.”
While the street crew did a great job clearing the uptown area, the snow remained long after it was removed.
“We actually had snow in our lot until late in the spring,” laughs Voll. “It basically turned into a giant ice block. We had to break it up and spread it out so it would finally melt.”
What you can do
To make things easier for the plow drivers, make sure to clear objects that might obstruct their path, including basketball hoops and cars parked on the street. Navigating around these things takes more time, making it more difficult for the plow drivers.
While the WPSD has the roadways covered, the fate of your driveway is left to you.
Pro tip: If you’re shoveling your driveway, it’s best to deposit the snow on the left side of your driveway. This way, the excess snow won’t get plowed back into your clear driveway when the trucks drive by.
“We know that homeowners spend a lot of time and effort shoveling their driveways and it’s always frustrating when it gets plowed back in, but we have to get the streets cleared,” says Voll.
Although central Ohio hasn’t had extreme winter weather in recent years, the WPSD continues to work hard and stay prepared for snow days ahead.
Maggie Lardie is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
