While the holiday season comes to a close, winter weather is still in full swing. And this year, Seattle Department of Transportation has a new approach to snow.
SDOT undertook a comprehensive review of its winter storm plan and response, which relied on an outside consultant and a study of nationwide best practices.
From the analysis, SDOT communications manager Rick Sheridan said, "we made wholesale changes to how we address winter storms in Seattle."
The goal will be to achieve bare and wet pavement on specified streets within eight hours after a break in the storm. The city spent about $400,000 to make upgrades to its response system.
"If there's a 50 percent chance or better of snowfall we'll pretreat all major streets," Sheridan said.
Starting out 12 hours in advance of a predicted snow or ice storm SDOT will use salt brine on the roads, and once the storm hits salt will be used as well.
Sand has been used in the past, but as last year showed - in a long extended storm with constant snowfall and subfreezing temperatures, sand's effect lessens considerably.
The city hadn't used salt due to environmental concerns, but an independent review showed the impact would be minimal because of its limited use. SDOT will treat streets on three different levels.
"The priority level is the same for us. We're treating all of those roads at the same time," Sheridan said. "What it means is the intensity of the effort for that given roadway."
The new snow map indicates the roads that will receive Level 1, 2 and 3 service from SDOT. All lanes of Level 1 streets, which includes major arterials such as 15th Avenue Northwest and Rainier Avenue, will be treated to be bare and wet.
Level 2 streets - including Beacon Avenue South, Greenwood Avenue North and East Madison Street - will have one bare and wet lane each direction.
Level 3 is more of a spot treatment on hills and areas prone to ice, including East Yesler Way and Wallingford Avenue North. A full snow map of response routes can be seen at seattle.gov/transportation/winterweather.htm. The snow map was based on traffic volume, and this year, SDOT also coordinated more closely with King County Metro to align open roads to Metro's snow bus routes.
With a goal to make sure buses can make their way around the city, Sheridan said the other responsibility lies with residents to keep sidewalks clear so that bus stops can be accessed safely.
Like SDOT, Seattle City Light also coordinates with the national weather service to prepare for storms and potential power outages.
With a prediction from the Weather Bureau of a stormy winter for the Pacific Northwest, Seattle City Light has a Take Winter by Storm campaign to raise public awareness about events like wind storms, snow storms and flooding.[[In-content Ad]]
