GREAT FALLS — It's been over a week since big snow hit Great Falls, and yet there are still roads that are covered in snow and ice, leading to people in town getting frustrated.
Mike Mace, a Great Falls resident said, “I don’t think its acceptable. I mean, I really don’t.”
Mace has lived in Great Falls for three years and said, “I came from Omaha. And I tell you what, a day after we had a snowstorm like that, the streets were plowed to the street.”
Every winter he’s been here, he has been frustrated with the same issue.
Mace said, “The residential streets, anything on the side of 10th Street, that I've noticed, doesn't even get a plow through it.”
Mace is concerned for residents’ well-being: “I've seen people get stuck out here. People fall, me included.”
He hopes that one of these days the city takes action: “I think on a city standpoint, I think they want to get more equipment and get some sort of plan.”
The city plows its streets on a three-priority scale.
Meredith Dawson, spokesperson for the City of Great Falls, explained, “The first (priority) is our emergency routes. The second is our major arterials. And then third is roads that give us access to those arterials.”
Dawson explains that side streets are not typically plowed, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck.
Dawson said, “If you're in a situation where you think a road is really dangerous, you can give Public Works a call and they will do their best to get to that street.”
Roads in Great Falls are cleared according to the following schedule:
- Priority One (Red): Emergency Snow Routes. These streets provide a network system throughout the city for emergency services operations. They are marked by road signs throughout the city.
- Priority Two (Black): Major Arterials. Streets interconnecting with high volume streets and completing the major street network with particular attention to schools, hospitals and business areas.
- Priority Three (Green): Selected Collector Streets. These streets include mass transit routes and other collector streets necessary to provide access to major arterials.
For residential streets and others not mentioned in priority one, two, or three: These streets are not normally cleared unless impassable. After clearing of the other priorities, special requests as manpower, equipment, are available.
The following roads are maintained by the State of Montana Highway Department:
- All Bridges
- 1st & 2nd Avenue North
- 14th & 15th Streets
- 10th Avenue South
- 6th Street South West
- North West Bypass
- Central Avenue West
- River Drive
- 3rd Street North West
- Park Drive
- Vaughn Road
- 57th Street
- Bootlegger Trail
- Old Havre Highway
- Market Place Exit "0"
- 25th Avenue North East from Old Havre Highway to the East
The city Snow & Ice Control Plan notes: "Snow and ice control is frequently a matter of choosing between two evils. For example, plowing snow off to the side of the street may clean the center, but it often covers sidewalks, blocks driveways and parked vehicles. Plowing to a windrow down the center of the street may alleviate these problems, but may create others by impeding left turns and restricting traffic flow.
As of Tuesday, Public Works has received 146 calls, and they’ve completed almost all of them, even with a relatively new workforce.
Dawson said, “We do have several new employees. So the majority of our employees that are out plowing the streets are newer.”
The city has reported more than 1,300 man hours in snow removal this season, used more than 1,100 tons of sand, and logged nearly 10,000 equipment miles, and with the resources at hand, not all streets will be plowed.
Dawson said, “If we had all the money in the world and we could get a bunch of new snow plows, operators, all those things, then we would be able to plow the streets. However, that would be a huge cost and that would be one that the taxpayers would have to take one.”
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