Snow plowing could be slowed this winter

WASILLA — A $34.6-million cut to the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities could change the way snow is handled on local state-maintained roads.

The cuts have forced the elimination of 63 jobs, and the reduction of 24 full-time jobs to part-time or seasonal status. They’ve also forced a reconsideration of what snow will be removed and how quickly.

DOT groups its roads into priorities for snow removal from 1 to 5. Priority 1 roads are expressways and high-volume highways, as well as traffic safety corridors and urban routes. The majority of Priority 1 roads are in Anchorage, the Mat-Su (which contains about 621 miles of state-maintained roads), Juneau and Fairbanks, and new guidelines indicate it could take up to 24 hours for them to be cleared. That’s almost twice as long as in past practice, listed as between six and 12 hours in documents provided by Mat-Su borough officials.

Local Priority 1 roads include Knik-Goose Bay Road, along with sections of the Glenn and Parks Highways.

The cause of the change to snow removal guidelines for major storm events is tied to the budget, said DOT spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy. The department has in the past placed priority snow removal on the Priority 1 roads, while using overtime to accelerate road clearance on the lower priority levels while workers on the main road come off-shift. That’s not practical with the numbers the department is looking at, McCarthy said.

“We can’t sustain that with the budget reductions we’re facing,” she said.

The equation is simple, McCarthy said.

“State funds are the only funds we can use to maintain our roads,” she said. “When our state funds are reduced, our maintenance activities are reduced.”

Recent low-snow winters don’t help, McCarthy added, in part because upticks in rain increase the number of potholes (several opened near the intersection of the Glenn and Parks Highway earlier this year).

Priority 2 roads, described as “major highways and arterials connecting communities,” including long stretches of the Parks and Glenn Highways outside of the Mat-Su borough, could take up to 36 hours to clear, which is in line with past response times. Local category two roads include the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Bogard Road (which passes by three of the Mat-Su borough school district’s four traditional high schools).

Priority 3 roads could take up to 48 hours to clear, and include 49th State Street Hemmer Road, and the Inner Springer Loop, Hyer Road, and Main Street in Wasilla.

Priority 4 roads are described as “minor roads” and could take up to 96 hours to clear. Local examples of Priority 4 roads include the Buffalo Mine Road and Maud Road in the Butte, and the Outer Springer Loop in Palmer.

Priority 5 roads, like the Denali Highway and segments of Petersville Road, are not regularly maintained during winter months.

The extended times given for the lower-level roads have made the issue of snow removal a legislative and administrative priority for the school system, said superintendent for business services Luke Fulp. The lower-priority roads are adjacent to neighborhood and rural elementary schools. School officials and bus contractors — the biggest of which is First Student — work together to determine whether or not roads are passable, Fulp said.

While the amount of snow may depend on the whims of nature, the thought of students out of school for up to four school days because of snow and ice worries officials, Fulp said. In particular, school system officials are asking that some roads — like Bogard, and the Old Glenn Highway — be reclassified in priority to prevent extended outages for the districts 12,982 regular-service bus stops.

“It’s the new priority levels that have been published with the road maintenance map that are concerning to us,” he said.

Borough officials have also asked for a list of roads so they could help fill any gaps, Fulp said. The full impacts of the decision might not be known until the first snow flies, but in the meantime, officials (unlike dog mushers, ski enthusiasts, and snowmachiners) are rooting for a warm, dry winter, Fulp said.

“We assess conditions one day at a time,” he said.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.