Bend has spent half its winter snow-removal budget

The city of Bend has spent about half of its $1.2 million budget for winter plowing, sanding and deicing, just one month into the official winter season, but two months after a major pre-Thanksgiving storm, city councilors were told Wednesday night.

New Bend Streets Division Manager Chuck Swann, who succeeded retired Hardy Hanson, was introduced by Streets and Operations Director David Abbas, who said the Thanksgiving week storm cost the city about $205,000 to battle, including hiring of contractors to help hit neighborhood streets.

This year’s winter operations budget was increased from $944,000 allocated last year, when winter turned out to be far less snowy, Abbas said.

Mayor Jim Clinton asked staff about studies that show the deicing agent magnesium chloride, while less corrosive than the salt used in many areas, still can cause bridges to corrode, damaging concrete as well as oxidizing the steel rebar.

Complaints by disabled travelers about being unable to navigate downtown streets and bridges due to berms are just one aspect of a review of policies that will be addressed during the council’s goal-setting discussions next month.

The city has 22 pieces of winter gear, from snowplows to graders and sanders, and 30 people with commercial drivers licenses, Abbas said.

Certain major arterials are top priority, from Third and 27th streets to Butler Market Road and Century Drive, he noted. But the city overall has 840 lane miles to tackle, equivalent to a plow working from Bend to Los Angeles, he added. It takes three to five hours to get the main arterials and collectors plowed – and if the snow keeps falling, they have to go back.

Councilor Sally Russell noted the “sporadic” nature of snowfall within the city, where forecasts can be wrong and there can be a major snow dumping as occurred last November, followed by weeks, even months with hardly any significant snowfall.

She also pointed out the city neighborhood associations’ effort to help those residents who cannot shovel their own sidewalks or need their driveways cleared after plows come through.

Still, Abbas said lessons have been learned this season, especially issues with sidewalks, crosswalks and roundabouts, and working with the city’s accessibility manager and downtown businesses on keeping downtown passable and safe if more major snowstorms hit. They also are looking at adding GPS gear, to better track what’s been done and what needs to be done.

Abbas encouraged councilors to go on a ride-along with a snow plow, to see the challenges first-hand.

City Manager Eric King said the city “would like to put more attention on snow removal,” and “have a more coordinated effort.” He said they will return to councilors with “a more specific proposal,” but added that with “an increased service level, there’s a cost to that.”