The City of Minot’s Public Works Department has been working diligently to clear the roads after this week’s storm, according to Bryan Banfill, Operations director.

Banfill said a significant list of variables prevent the city from keeping clean roads during storms. He said the amount of snowfall as well as starts and stops of snow during a winter event and additional snowfall once teams start working are all major factors.

Additionally, the city combats wind, which causes drifts, blowing snow and creates hazardous conditions, according to Banfill. He said the teams responsible for clearing snow also sometimes struggle to get to locations they are responsible for clearing which can cause additional delays.

Under perfect conditions, where none of these factors combat the removal teams, Banfill said regarding the emergency snow routes (priority 1 and 2 routes), that “it’s conceivable that the snow routes can be cleared in 24-36 hours.” He stressed this timeframe would be true if the removal teams get started at the same time as the snow, and their work flow goes as smoothly as possible.

During winter months, city vehicles can be seen spreading “dirt” onto the roads around intersections, on hills or near other hazards. What is being spread by the trucks is a mixture of sand and salt. Banfill said when city employees make the mixture to be spread, they use a one part salt to five parts sand mixture.

Banfill said the city has recently started using a new tracking tool called Fleet Path, which is used to track progress of snow removal throughout the city. During November’s snow emergency, he said the city cleared snow from its areas of responsibility in 71 hours.

Banfill said all of the city’s snow removal equipment has GPS tracking. He said the city also tracks each mile traveled by each piece of equipment and calculates data such as fuel economy for each vehicle.

The information tracked is not publicly accessible yet, btut Banfill said his team is working to add the data to the public notification system. The biggest barrier to doing so, he said, “is it’s hard to discern what’s going to be valuable information and what’s not.” He is working on creating a format for the information that is easy and understandable, and is trying to figure out which information to include and publish. The large spreadsheets he currently gets contain too much information in a difficult to read format. “I want to give (the public) everything, and the hard part is that the files that we get, the reports that we get are a little difficult to understand as we start breaking apart each piece of information we get,” he said.

The new information available to the city has been great, according to Banfill. He has a wealth of information about the equipment, its location and health, and snow removal progress throughout the city. For the snow removal teams, he said this information has been critical, allowing them to streamline their shift changeovers and has allowed for more efficient operation of the department.

To help the snow removal teams, Banfill asks those removing snow from their property to not pile it near street corners, which can create a visibility safety hazard for drivers. He also requests that people not push snow into the right-of-way, or onto city property. He said when people clear their sidewalks, driveways and parking lots, then pile the snow, the debris picked up during their efforts eventually makes its way into city ditches. The debris in the ditches can damage summer landscaping and mowing equipment.