Snow Removal Policy

Snow Removal Policy The Street Department is in charge of keeping the City of Garrett’s streets free and clear of snow during inclement weather. When conditions become a concern, the streets will be monitored and the dispatch of equipment will be in accordance with each situation. There are approximately 210 lane miles of streets, 11 miles of alleys, 17 cul-de-sacs, Fire & Police Station, City Hall parking lot, and the clearing of sidewalks on Randolph St. (from Houston St. to Quincy St. based on the amount of snow accumulated) When the downtown area has accumulated, the removal of said snow is then trucked off to one of our local parks, this also includes accumulated snow on east Houston Street by the elementary school.

Our city is divided into primarily four (4) routes with each route assigned one (1) truck with the capabilities of an underbody plow or a front end plow, with a salt/sander. Streets are assigned into one (1) of three (3) priorities. Priority streets are the first to receive attention, once deemed safe for travel we will address second and third priority streets. Dependent on actual accumulations all priorities could be being addressed at the same time or in a prioritized order. If during plowing operations priority one (1) streets become slippery because of the snow continuing, our focus will remain on these streets until they are deemed passable and then back to the 2nd & 3rd priority streets.

While no snow event is exactly the same, some of the factors used to determine the dispatch of people and equipment are rate of accumulation, moisture content, temperature, time of day or night, wind direction & velocity. As a rule of thumb it will usually take 4 to 6 hours AFTER the snow STOPS falling to double pass(open up) all streets. Additional time will be needed to plow back curb to curb. Alleys will also take additional time to clear dependent on snowfall amounts and we do not have to move back to priority one (1) streets if snow begins again.

Due to insurance reasons, city employees are not allow to push, pull, clear or remove vehicles or snow from streets or drives of anyone’s personal property.