Columbia Public Works: Crews hit the road early to fight winter weather

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Public Works Department says despite being short-staffed it is feeling confident about heading into winter after its first real-world test of the season.

Crews hit the road Monday night in preparation for Tuesday's snow. "They worked from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m." said John Ogan, a spokesman for Columbia Public Works.

Ogan said the department is down roughly 20% of its staff. "We're down from where we would ideally like to be, but that's still within the range of acceptability," Ogan said. He said staffing is about the same as last winter.

Organ said the department has good working relationships with other city departments to fill positions in major snow events. "We can borrow workers from other departments," said Organ. "We have these large pickup trucks that don't require a [commercial driver's license]."

The department is responsible for removing snow and ice on 1,418 miles of city-maintained streets including 691 lane miles of first-, second- and third-priority routes.

Ogan said they send out two shifts of 10 people crews -- one works from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. when the second crew switches out with them. The department has plenty of salt in its salt dome.

Ogan said crew sizes jump to almost 30 per shift when Columbia does get hit with heavy snow requiring extra help.

"Every single storm is different, and it's not just about what time that we send out crews, but also what kind of precipitation is happening, if it's raining prior to freezing," Ogan said. "There's other factors to consider such as weather, or if it's a working day or a nonworking day or a holiday."

Ogan said these factors will determine when public works start its pretreatment process including laying down salt, and when crews will start plowing the roads.

Columbia Public Works prioritizes busy roads when clearing the roadways, breaking roads down into three tiers. The highest priority roads are the biggest and busiest.

"Then we have second priority roads, which are the main residential roads that connect residential systems to the main roads," Ogan said.

Ogan advises anyone who is interested in starting a career with the city of Columbia to apply here.