Harsh winter problematic for snow removal, street repair

After a winter marked by frigid temperatures and record-breaking snowfall, the weather has taken its toll on Havre's streets, and Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said it will likely have long-term effects.

The city has received more than 80 inches of snow since July.

All the more overwhelming, Peterson said, is the fact that the snow has not melted away.

"Usually you have warm spells and the snow melts out, you get rid of it and then you get more snow," Peterson said. "This year that didn't happen."

The buildup of ice, snow and slush has created ruts in the snow cover on the streets and made them all the more difficult to travel.

Peterson said that he hears about it from city residents.

"We've gotten quite a few calls on them," Peterson said.

He said people have called Public Works asking for the streets to be cleared because it makes it hard for them to travel and get out of driveways.

"We're doing what we can with the equipment that we've got. We are hoping that Mother Nature helps us out and that it gets a little warmer in the day and we can get rid of the snow," Peterson said.

The snow will also have an impact on the city's Public Works budget, he said.

Peterson said more money will likely go toward fuel for the city's snow removal vehicles because they are being used more often. Money will also have to be used to replace the city's depleted supply of sand.

He said Public Works does not have a portion of the budget set aside just for snow removal, so money will be used where in years with more mild winters, it could have been used for other expenses such as more asphault and gravel.

The snow and ice will also have a longer-term impact on the already deteriorating streets, Peterson said, with water seeping through cracks and leading to more breakup of the asphalt and more potholes.

"This is going to be pretty hard on the streets," Peterson said.,

Despite the higher than normal snowfall, Peterson said, he does not anticipate the city will need to get another emergency mill levy.

An emergency mill levy was approved by the City Council in October to cover the costs associated with the Oct. 2-3 snowstorm.

Peterson said mill levies proposed to finance street and sidewalk repair that have been rejected in the last two elections wouldn't have made a difference in removing snow this winter, but could have prevented problems down the road.

Those proposals would not have covered snow removal, but work on the streets would leave them with fewer cracks and they would be less porous, leading to fewer pot holes when the snow melts, he said.

Beyond snow and ice removal, the buildup of frost is also causing problems for the city's water system, including water main breaks.

A couple of water mains have broken and been fixed only to break again, he said.

"The frost is down probably four, four and a half feet in the streets," Peterson said. "It takes a lot longer to work on those just because of that issue."

He said Public Works has not received calls about too many breaks, and hopefully there won't be too many more so crews can concentrate on smoothing over the streets and cutting down the ruts in the streets and clearing them of snow.

Not too many residential streets, he said, have been done.

Though the city tries to get as much work as it can, clearing them all at once is often not possible.

Havre's snow and ice removal plan breaks down the streets into priorities.

The top priority are emergency snow routes that provide a network of streets used for emergency operations.

Priority two streets are high-volume streets that include access to hospitals, schools and businesses.

Priority three streets are "selected collector streets," the plan says, with specific areas designated with hillside streets.

The fourth category are non-priority streets, the plan said, include most residential areas which will not normally be cleared unless impossible to travel and ordered cleared by the department.

Once the top three priorities are cleared, the department can respond to requests for clearing areas if needed and resources are available, the plan says.

Peterson said all cities that live in an environment with snow face the same problem of clearing the streets and fixing potholes and buckling.

He said that last year he went to Billings after it had received 15 to 18 inches of snow the week before and none of the residential streets had been plowed.

People who go to another town often base their assumptions that other cities do more snow removal on the condition of the roads they travel while they are there, he said, adding that most of those tend to be the roads with shopping centers and businesses, higher-volume streets that are a bigger priority.

In terms of snow removal, he said, it is the same in each city and is a case of available personnel and money.

"It's a challenge for any city that receives snow," he said.