1. CIMCity Commission Information Memorandum
March 3, 2014
ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEF FROM Michael Fraser
Department of Public Works – Downtown Snow Removal
The removal of snow in the Salina central business district is
somewhat problematic. The challenge is to keep open parking
spaces for citizens to use along the sides of the street and in the
parking lots during and after a snow storm.
To address the situation, Public Works crews use motor graders,
front-end loaders, and backhoes to clean the 20 City parking lots and
push a large portion of the snow into the center of the street where it
is windrowed. This opens up parking stalls for public use and
prepares the snow for removal at a later time after the storm.
The snow removal process typically begins after a storm has ended
and the streets have been plowed. Snow removal usually takes place
at night when there are fewer vehicles on the streets. Public Works
crews use equipment to clean all the snow from the curb line and
push it to the center of the road where it is added to the already
windrowed snow that was piled up during a storm. However, there
are some situations when removal of the snow can take place during
the day.
When removing the snow, a front-end loader with a large snow
blower is used to pick up the windrows of snow and load it into
waiting 6-yard dump trucks. These dump trucks are the same trucks
used to plow and salt our streets. However, in order to haul snow,
their salt spreaders must be removed to perform this new task.
These loaded trucks then transport the snow about one mile to
Riverside Park where the snow is unloaded and pushed up into large
piles by a front-end loader. When the snow melts, it flows down into
the old Smoky Hill River channel where it makes its way into the
Smoky Hill River near the north pump station south of North Street &
Marymount Road.
The downtown snow removal process takes approximately 8-12
hours to complete under typical conditions. However, this can vary
depending on the amount of snow, temperatures, wind conditions,
and availability of staff.
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During the February 4 storm, which dropped 11.5” of snow on
Salina, the Public Works Department 16 man crew expended 150
man hours over a 12 hour timeframe to complete the job of removing
snow from the downtown. They ended up hauling 527 loads of snow
to Riverside Park.