With winter fast approaching, Westminster is preparing for snowfall.
The city’s goal during any snowstorm is to keep primary and secondary streets open and safe for motorists. To achieve this goal, the city employees follow a snow policy that rates the streets by three priorities.
Brock Hufford, a street operations foreman for the city of Westminster, said the first priority is all arterial routes and major collector streets considered to be the minimum network that must be kept open to provide a transportation system covering the major traffic volume and provide access to hospitals, police stations, fire stations and rescue squads. Some of these roads include 72nd, 80th, 120th, 144th and 128th avenues, Sheridan and Lowell boulevards and parts of Federal Boulevard.
Priority two areas include secondary routes, collector streets and select residential streets providing access to emergency stations, schools and bus routes. The final priority is residential areas. Hufford said these areas include dangerous intersections, hills and curves.
“We don’t get to all of the residential areas for every storm because it is a tremendous amount of time and money,” he said. “But when a storm produces eight or more inches, then we will go through every single residential street and pass down the middle of the street with a plow.”
Hufford said the city averages about 15-17 storms a year and last year the city had a total of 78 inches, which is also an average number. He said when the snow does start coming down, it’s important for motorists slow down and give the snow plow drivers room and patience.
“The best speed is probably 25 miles per hour. People need to slow down,” he said. “All the accidents we see during every storm happen because people are driving too fast. People need to remain patient with us, and give us a break.”
Along with snow plowing, Hufford said the drivers also disperse a material called ice slicer on the roads to help melt the ice and snow.
For more information on the city’s snow policy, visit www.ci.westminster.co.us.
