How Local Cities Are Preparing For Big Seattle Snowstorm

BELLEVUE, WA - Six inches, 8 inches, a foot, blowing snow, frigid temperatures - whatever this weekend storm brings to Puget Sound, cities around the region say they are making special plans to make sure everyone, pedestrian to drivers to firefighters, can get around safely.

Patch asked cities to share their weekend snow removal plans so you can have an idea of what's happening out on the streets. Below you'll find what public works and information officers told us about plans to clear roads and sidewalks, and what types of equipment each city has available (we've edited some responses for length).

Bellevue

City crews will continue to work 24/7 (they started at 11 p.m. Sunday) in 12-hour shifts and will continue that staffing through the next storm.

Equipment: 14 trucks total. Combination of 1-ton, four-wheel-drive trucks and 5-yard dump trucks. All have snowplows on them. Some are equipped to spread liquid deicer, some are equipped to spread solid deicer. Both are calcium chloride, just in different forms.

Find more storm resources available in Bellevue here.

Issaquah

The city is wrapping up from the previous storm Thursday by working to remove some remaining ice from roadways, hauling in and restocking new materials needed for the weekend and completing any necessary maintenance to equipment.

Before conditions start to deteriorate, the Public Works Department stands up an incident team and begins 24/7 shifts. Crews then perform deicing runs on priority routes. Those routes are based on the size of the street and its function.

During the event, crews will be plowing those priority routes, which have dedicated plow teams. After the storm has passed, crews will continue to ensure that roadways are treated and road conditions are made as safe as possible.

The city operates a fleet of eight snow plows all running dedicated routes and uses sand that has been mixed with a modified calcium carbonate (salt) compound.

Kirkland

Kirkland prepared a video about the city's response featuring Public Works Superintendent Ray Steiger. The city will have staff working 24 hours per day through the snowstorm, Steiger says.

Mercer Island

Plow crews are well supplied with fuel and materials, equipment is being double-checked, and work teams will be switching back onto 24-hour shifts Friday morning through the weekend.

Extra police, fire, and public works crews are scheduled, and the city will open its Emergency Operations Center Friday afternoon to handle heavier call volumes and coordinate the response. The City is also in close contact with the Mercer island School District.

On Friday evening, the City recommends not parking on steep roads or driveways if the option exists (please do not block the right-of-way).

For snow/ice/sand service requests, please use MI-Connect, or download the app to submit via a smartphone. This pushes the information directly into the workflow queue for our public works field crews - an online map also shows whether anyone else has already requested service at the same location. View plow routes here.

Most city offices will close early on Friday, including City Hall at 2 p.m.

Redmond

All city services are coordinating over the next 5-6 days. This includes emergency services, essential and non-essential staffing, supplies, internal and external communications, facilities, programs, events etc.

Our emergency services are prepared with extra resources and are working 24-hour shifts. Our Public Works teams have already restocked (from the storm earlier this week) deicer, salt, and sand. Street crews and equipment are prepared and on duty for snow/ice treatment and removal starting Thursday night.

Our street crews respond before the storm by first treating the main arterial roads into and out of Redmond. During the storm they are running plows in 12 hour shifts focusing on main roads first, then turn lanes, then in and out-of-town roadways, major residential hills, and roadways for 911 response

Redmond uses snow plows, sand, calcium chloride liquid deicer, and rock salt to keep streets safe during snow events. Redmond chooses to use calcium chloride because it is less harmful to water quality and the environment compared to other deicers on the market. Liquid deicer is only effective if applied to the road prior to snowfall.

Redmond uses only as much deicer, salt, and sand deemed necessary to protect public safety. Excess use of materials does not improve the safety of roads and is expensive.

As far as equipment, Redmond has: three 5 yard trucks with plows and material spreaders; one 5 yard truck with a plow and a 900 gallon liquid anti-icing applicator; one 5 yard truck 900-gallon liquid anti-icing applicator; one 1 ton 400-gallon liquid anti-icing applicator with material spreader and plow.

Follow the city of Redmond on Facebook, Twitter (@CityofRedmond), and www.redmond.gov for the latest updates.

Renton

City Public Works Road Maintenance crews will work 12-hour shifts 24-hours per day through the weekend and possibly through some of next week, pending weather. You can see the city's snow plowing priority map here.

See updates about closures and the city's severe weather shelter here.

Sammamish

Sammamish has a plowing priority system in place to clear our 400 miles of road. The plowing time required depends on several variables such as the snowstorm intensity, duration, wind, and the temperature. The Snow and Ice Route Map can be found here.

After the layer of deicer is applied and snow starts to fall/accumulate, snowplows are operated around-the-clock on the city’s priority routes.

For any snow event, our number one goal is to keep designated priority routes in good winter driving condition. Priority routes are lifelines, major thoroughfares, and arterial roadways and streets. The City always works with emergency service providers when emergency response is necessary.

Sammamish has nine snowplows. We use a liquid deicer called CCB, it’s made of calcium chloride (salt), molasses, water, and a corrosion inhibitor called "boost," which is a proprietary ingredient.

The city does not plow private roads; we have 80.6 miles of private road.

Read the rest of Sammamish's Snow FAQ here.

Seattle

SDOT has created a page where you can see how the city will clear streets, what to do in the event of an emergency, and more essential information.

Many have wondered about how Seattle clears snow on sidewalks and bike lanes. Property owners are required to clear sidewalks in front of their property, but SDOT crews do some work.

"We do proactively clear many sidewalks which are not directly in front of buildings. We deploy 15 crews to clear walkways including all the pedestrian overpasses over I-5, about 30 outdoor stairways, and over 1,000 corner curb ramps. Our plan is to treat these identified sidewalks within 24 hours of the start of a storm and to clear these areas within 12 hours of a lull in the storm," SDOT spokesman Ethan Bergerson said Thursday.

Shoreline

We have ten street operations crew members who deice, sand, and plow our streets. For the last storm, our public work crew worked back-to-back, 12-hour shifts Sunday night through Wednesday. When snow falls, we concentrate our efforts on arterial streets to accommodate fire, medical, and police response, as well Metro transit and school buses. There are 128 lane miles on these primary routes to clear. Once primary routes are complete, we move on to secondary routes. Shoreline has six trucks equipped with snow plows and spreaders. The city's snow and ice control plan with snow removal route maps can be found at shorelinewa.gov/stormready.

Beginning Thursday, throughout the night, and into tomorrow morning, road crews will be getting equipment ready, staging sand and salt, and treating primary routes with road salt and/or liquid deicer. Liquid deicer treatment works best when streets are dry. Once snow starts falling, we will move back to 12-hour shifts, working through the day and night plowing and treating streets.

Our street crew is supported by three members of our code enforcement and customer response team who clear obstacles such as fallen trees, close roads in problem spots, and assist with police and fire requests for road closures in emergencies. This weekend, other staff members from our public works, parks, and the wastewater utility will be called in to help with our snow response.

Woodinville

You can find the city's snow plowing routes here. City officials did not respond to a request for details, but for Monday's storm, the city said priority plow routes include: Woodinville-Duvall, 156th Ave NE, 124th Ave NE, and NE 175th and hills in the Tanglin Ridge, Woodinville Heights neighborhoods.

Patch file photo