City of Jamestown to plow 1st Avenue, 10th Street sooner

Nov. 30—JAMESTOWN — The city of Jamestown will plow the driving lanes of 1st Avenue and 10th Street immediately after emergency snow routes are plowed, according to Tyler Michel, public works director.

The change in the snow-removal plan will allow traffic to get through those streets faster and prevents snow from getting packed down on the roads.

Michel said 1st Avenue and 10th Street might be plowed while snow emergency routes are getting plowed depending on staff availability.

"If 1st Avenue and 10th Street, if they are starting to see a lot of accumulation or drifting, we will come in and just hit it quick just to open up the two northbound and southbound (lanes) and then east and west, just to open up the main through there," Michel said.

He said the two streets will have windrows down the middle of them so motorists might not be able to get out of every single alley.

"You may have to take a different route out of an alley or into an alley then you normally would," he said.

Once the city goes into its full snow-removal plan when a public service announcement is sent out, workers will get rid of the windrows from the middle of the streets, he said.

He said the main reason the changes were made to the snow-removal plan is to help motorists get through major routes in Jamestown.

Michel said the city clears streets of snow depending on its snow-removal policy. The following are the city of Jamestown's procedures during a snow event:

* Plowing on emergency snow routes and drifted locations when there is generally more than 2 inches of snow.

* Plowing and removal on downtown streets when there is generally more than 3 inches.

* Full plowing and removal plan when there is generally more than 4 inches.

* Full plowing and removal under a snow emergency declaration when there is generally more than 8 inches and/or extreme winds and/or multiple (accumulated) snow events.

"Of course, there are some snow events that are less snow but we do the entire plan anyways," Michel said.

While 1st Avenue and 10th Street are getting cleared, the city does not plan to plow closer to the curbs, he said.

"We try to stay back from the curb a little bit because as soon as you touch a curb with a plow when it's frozen like that, it just breaks," he said. "We do go back in the summertime and fix the areas that we do break, but we try to limit that because if you get too close and you hit it, even touch it with a blade, it will break a big chunk off right away."

He said any repairs to the curbs can get expensive and are paid out of the street department's budget.

Michel said snow removal went well after the snowstorm in early November when Jamestown received 7 inches of snow, according to measurements taken at the North Dakota State Hospital. He said he heard maybe one or two complaints but the majority of the feedback was positive.

He said the city of Jamestown is a little short on truck drivers, so it takes a little more time to get the snow hauled away from the downtown area. If anyone is interested in driving trucks during snow removal, contact City Hall at 252-5900. He said a Class B commercial driver's license is required and anyone hired would be a part-time employee on an as-needed basis.