Public WorksSnow Removal Operations Report

January 13, 2014

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STORM CHARACTERISTICS

• Storm 1 occurred on Dec.31st to January 2nd – 14 inches of snow with minor drifting – Duration of snow event 49 hours– Snow Emergency January 2nd and 3rd

– Snow Route Parking Ban January 2nd and 3rd

• Storm 2 occurred on January 4th and 5th – 12.5 inches of snow with major drifting followed by sub-zero

temperatures– Duration of snow event 20 hours– Voluntary compliance requested for residential and primary routes,

posting for snow clearance areas

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• Storm 1 and 2 combined snow total of 26.5 inches in a one week period

• Snow total represents the second snowiest week when compared to the NWS record for Chicago O'Hare

• 6.5 inches more than the 2011 Blizzard

• 3 inches more than the average annual snowfall for Evanston.

STORM CHARACTERISTICS

4Average snow fall for Evanston is 23.5 and for Chicago O'Hare is 36.7

RECENT SNOW FALL TOTALS

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SNOW/ICE EVENTS

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COSTS

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BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

Account2014 Budgeted

AmountJan. Storms

1 and 2 Spent to DateRemaining

Balance

Snow Overtime $275,000 $232,418 $277,686 2,686.00

Materials $350,000 $85,011 $148,454 201,546.00

Towing $60,000 $33,780 $33,780 26,220.00

Equipment Rental $42,500 $42,500 42,500.00

Misc Cost* $17,552 $17,552 17,552.00

Total $685,000 $411,261 $519,972 165,028.00

Miscellaneous cost include overtime for tree removals and pothole repairs requires as the result of frigid temperatures

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Border City Snow Removal Operation Parameters

• Not Quite Like Wilmette – Abundance of off street parking– On-street residential parking prohibitions overnight– Expectations: all streets clear to the curb– Limited equipment and personnel resources

• Not Quite Like Chicago– Limited off street parking– Mandatory parking prohibition main routes 2” of snow– Unlimited salt and equipment resources– Expectations: travel lanes clear to curb, residential

streets cleared down the middle– Abundant equipment and material resources

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• Uniquely Evanston – Insufficient on-street parking– Limited off-street parking– Parking prohibition main routes 2” overnight if

declared– Parking prohibition on residential routes 4” if declared– Limited equipment and personnel resources– Expectations: travel lanes clear to curb, residential

streets cleared to curb– Business district sidewalks cleared

Evanston Snow Removal Operations Parameter

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LESSONS LEARNED REVISITED

• Communications – This was a major part of our success for this event. The City could not hope to clear this level of snow within normal time frames and therefore communications is even more critical than normal. The lesson learned is that we did put a priority on communications, but we can still improve our efforts to communicate changes in procedures necessitated by changing events.

• Parking flexibility

– Usage of parking decks to get cars off the street

– Relaxed parking meter enforcement

– Using school lots

• Modification of even/odd parking/tow procedures for blizzard level

– Consider a three tiered approach

• Normal snow fall

• Over 4 inches

• Over 12 inches

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• Partnerships

– With Northwestern, School Districts, area businesses, and property owners

– Within departments – Parks Recreation and Community Services, Water/Sewer, Parking, Community and Economic Development and Police all worked well together.

– Utilization of vendors for snow hauling from the business districts and for snow shoveling on sidewalks throughout the City.

• Priorities and Consistency

– Residential side street plowing

• Smaller equipment resources were not sufficient

• Extended time period for parking ban needs to be communicated more clearly.

– Quicker response on re-tasking staff

• Assess plowing/removal needs (streets, sidewalks, parks, parking lots)

• Re-assign staff to meet needs.

• Compare operations to other communities

– A few comments noted our operations better than others and vice versa.

– Shared resources – Equipment types, techniques, etc.

LESSONS LEARNED REVISITED

• Emergency pothole repairs were completed on Saturday (1-11) and Sunday (1-12) along primary routes

• Over 26 tons of cold patch at a cost of $3120.

• Overtime cost for pothole patching is approximately $2900.

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POTHOLES

• 1-7 received a 311 report of large split tree trunk

• Inspected 303 Sycamore trees – 60 full-depth radial shakes– 76 minor/shallow radial shakes– 167 no visible radial shakes

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SYCAMORE TREE DAMAGE

TREE DAMAGE COMPARISONS

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Very deep Healthy Shallow

EMERGENCY TREE REMOVAL

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The structural integrity of sixty (60) trees with very deep radial shake and trunk damage will have to be removed

We are recommending emergency removal of the 60 trees over the next four Saturdays at a personnel cost of $3278. This will

limit the impact to the existing backlog.

Communications

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• Emails sent daily from Jan 1 -7th to list of 37,800 recipients

• Social media channels used frequently by residents, many questions and issues responded to via these channels

• Channel 16 & Radio also updated

311 Center

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Date Calls Handled Calls Abandoned Service Requests Live Chat Notes1/1/2014 46 1 1 2 Holiday - Opened from 1-5pm1/2/2014 831 44 78 31 Snow Emergency1/3/2014 777 38 93 24 Snow Emergency1/4/2014 192 10 37 101/5/2014 113 6 24 0 Sunday - Opened from 11-3pm1/6/2014 784 46 69 241/7/2014 787 33 81 261/8/2014 625 34 120 14