Denver officials on Wednesday officially proposed new plans for plowing snow in hopes of preventing the weeks of frozen streets residents dealt with last winter.
The more robust plans are likely to cost the city an additional $500,000 to $1 million each year, Public Works Manager Bill Vidal told the City Council’s public works committee.
The new policies are largely formal adaptations of changes Vidal implemented on the fly during a series of powerful storms last winter.
For instance, Vidal plans to contract with private companies so that 132 light plows can be sent to residential streets during a major snow.
Before last winter, the city sent its 68 heavy plows out to major thoroughfares before turning attention to neighborhood streets. Vidal created what he called the “light plow brigade” after the major storms to simultaneously plow residential and arterial streets.
Public Works also plans to install tracking devices on plows for better response to specific problems.
Denver residents endured two blizzards, 55 inches of snow and one of the coldest Januaries on record last winter. The weather covered many of the city’s residential streets with ice for weeks.
The city spent $13 million to break up and remove ice from the streets, nearly tripling the $4.3 million budget for snow removal in 2007.
On Wednesday, Vidal cautioned City Council members that last winter was exceptionally harsh. He said the improvements are not intended to handle similar circumstances.
“You should never build a church for Easter Sunday attendance,” Vidal said. He said the estimated $500,000 to $1 million budget increase was created with one major snow per winter in mind.
Vidal said the city learned that “we have way too many snow routes” during the storms. He said Denver will limit snow routes to include streets that are critical for public safety and eliminate the others.
Parking can be prohibited on snow routes during major storms, and that created parking problems for many people last winter.
Vidal said such restrictions are not helpful “if all we are going to do is create parking chaos somewhere else.”
The city also plans to drop any restrictions on residents’ use of private plows to clear neighborhood streets. Mayor John Hickenlooper suspended permit requirements on private plowing last winter.
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-954-1657 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.
