Bend defends road efforts after ‘perfect storm’

Higher temperatures during the day have turned most busy streets in Bend into a slushy mess. Many Central Oregonians wonder why it has taken so long to see bare pavement again.

NewsChannel 21 spoke with officials from the city of Bend before the storm hit and they had said they were prepared.

“For days now, we’ve been putting pre-de-icing in preparation for the precipitation. That way the ice and snow won’t bond to the streets,” Hardy Hansen, with the city of Bend Public Works, said on Nov. 13th.

If they were prepared, what went wrong?

“I wouldn’t say things went wrong,” David Abbas, with Bend Public Works, said Wednesday. “I’m proud of the crews for hitting it as hard as they can and as hard as they were able to with our staff, equipment and materials we have available to us.”

Abbas said it was quite literally a perfect storm of snow and ice that caused the bad conditions on Bend’s roads. Unless the city is going to get more equipment and staff, there is not much they can do differently when the next storm hits.

“Other than a few technical things on a few pieces of equipment, which is bound to happen,” Abbas said. “Winter operation is hard on equipment, especially when you get into equipment that’s 20-25 years old. Other than that, we’ve hit it as hard as we’ve could.”

Five pieces of equipment had mechanical issues. Four of them have been repaired, but the city said that did not have a major impact on their efforts to clean the roads, since most of them failed after the brunt of the storm was over.

Abbas said it is not unusual for winter operation gear to fail, because it is in such heavy use.

“The garages are working hard on getting equipment fixed up and put back together,” Abbas said. “Some of it needs parts. There’s only one piece in there today, and (will) be ready for the next storm event when we need all hands on deck.”

City Manager Eric King reiterated that position to city councilors Wednesday night, acknowledging that “driving conditions were and continue to be very difficult.” He noted the city, responsible for clearing over 800 miles of lane roads, “had all 17 pieces of equipment on the road” at the height of the storm, with crews on 12-hour shifts.

A couple of years ago, he said, they replaced some equipment that was over 30 years old.

“We were very well-prepared for this storm,” he said, thanking the public for its patience and for helping neighbors