3 things to know about winter plowing, snow emergencies in Columbus and Franklin County
From the middle of November through mid-spring, public safety, roads and power crews in central Ohio prepare themselves for snow.
Franklin County's Winter Snow Emergency Plan offers residents and businesses a look at how officials manage duties such as plowing, power outages and snow emergencies.
The Dispatch recently chatted with officials from the county sheriff's and engineer's offices, Columbus Department of Public Service, Ohio Department of Transportation and AEP Ohio about how they use the plan and what that means.
Here are three things you need to know about winter driving, plowing and snow emergencies in Franklin County:
Who plows the roads and when depends on their type and location
Columbus' Department of Public Service handles more than 4,700 lane miles of city roads, along with certain U.S. routes and state roads spread across the city's approximately 225 square miles, said Scott Tourville, administrator of the city's Infrastructure Management Division.
The City of Columbus Snow and Ice Control Plan divides the roadways the city is responsible for into three priorities:
Arterial Roadways (Priority 1), cover approximately 1,550 city lane miles and include portions of U.S. 33, State Routes 315, 104 and 161 and several other non-interstate freeways that serve the Downtown area and outlying residential areas.
"Arterial roadways provide a high degree of mobility by servicing major activity centers, carry higher traffic volumes, interconnect and provide continuity for major corridors throughout the city," according to the plan.
When Columbus City Schools are in session, streets around schools are serviced as a top priority.
Residential Collector Roadways (Priority 2) cover about 1,200 city lane miles and funnel traffic from local residential roadways in neighborhoods to the arterial network and typically are longer, have higher speed limits and traffic volumes, and include more signalized intersections.
This year, Columbus has upgraded 250 lane miles of residential streets to "collector roadways. Tourville said that means all residents should now live within a couple blocks of streets that always get plowed, regardless of the amount of snow.
The change follows complaints last winter that too many residential areas had streets left untreated and motorists couldn't get to the main collector or arterial roads. The city had blamed some of its problems on a lack of snow plow drivers last winter, and Tourville has said Columbus is better prepared this year with more drivers.
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Residential Roadways (Priority 3) cover about 1,950 city lane miles and are classified as local or residential roadways that carry little to no through traffic and have generally lower traffic volumes.
Tourville said plows only cover these Priority 3 streets when there are four inches of snow or more. Even then, those streets are serviced by plow only and no salt is used.
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The city is piloting a program this year "that will deploy trained auxiliary city staff to treat or plow these neighborhood streets as soon as snow starts to fall when approximately 4 or more inches is forecasted.
The city has already trained 100 workers, and has another 20 in the pipeline, Tourville said.
The city's Snow and Ice Plan "strives to be environmentally sensitive in using salt to treat roadways. Minimizing usage helps to protect our community’s waterways, infrastructure, plants and wildlife."
Jennifer Gallagher, Columbus public service director, acknowledged officials needed to make improvements.
"We did have some challenges last year when the winter storm came in February," Gallagher said. That included not having enough drivers, she said.
The Dispatch reported in February that while the city's snow-plowing fleet totaled 92 vehicles then, only about 50-plus of those trucks were out driving one of 383 designated routes.
"Our residents are expecting us to get to our residential streets faster," Gallagher said. The city has 70 large trucks for salt and plowing, two "flusher" trucks with brine for anti-icing, and 62 dump trucks and pickup trucks to plow streets. Tourville said the city is also bringing in another 13 dump trucks and 23 pickup trucks.
Tourville said the city has filled more than 90% of its positions for drivers to take care of the streets.
Franklin County maintenance crews handle 25 routes, covering 763 miles of road with 33 snowplows, Chief Deputy Engineer Brad Foster said. That includes county roads as well as partnering with the city of New Albany and various school districts, he said.
The county also has 15 tons of rock salt at three facilities.
The Ohio Department of Transportation handles 43,000 miles of road in the state, including 1,600 in Franklin County, said Brooke Ebersole, spokesperson for ODOT's District 6, which covers 16 counties in central Ohio.
In 2021, state plow drivers spent 167,000 hours, covering 1 million miles on the roads, and they typically work 12- to 16-hour shifts, Ebersole said. Officials expect this year to be no different.
"It's not going to be a light winter," she said.
Ice, not snow, leads to more power outages.
American Electric Power Ohio focuses on preventing outages by investing in reliable systems and is working to expand and accommodate a growing population, said Michael Lascola, training and education coordinator at AEP Ohio.
Lascola said AEP Ohio also prepares for inevitable outages in a variety of ways. For example, before a storm, crews make sure their trucks are in good working conditioned and well-stocked, and in-house meteorologists monitor storms even before they happen.
"Ice is worse for us than snow," Lascola said, noting even just one-quarter-inch of ice will cause some outages, and one-half-inch means those outages will be more significant.
In the case of a power outage, crews will generally focus on areas that affect clusters of homes and businesses before moving on to less-dense areas, Lascola said.
To prepare for a power outage, Lascola encouraged people to create and maintain emergency kits that contain items such as water, food, batteries, medications, blankets and even portable generators, if available. If you encounter downed power lines, stay away; always presume the lines are live; and don't cut or trim downed trees or brush nearby.
What are snow emergencies, who makes that decision and how?
Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin is ultimately responsible for deciding whether to declare a snow emergency. The same holds true for sheriffs in the state's 87 other counties.
There are three levels of snow emergencies, Baldwin said, but they are based on driving conditions rather than snow depth.
Level 1: Roads are hazardous. Slow down and watch your speed.
Level 2: Hazardous conditions. Don't go out, unless you absolutely must. Employers should consider asking employees to work remotely.
Level 3: Catastrophic conditions. Roads are closed to all vehicles except emergency services. Government officials consider stay-at-home orders.
"We're in constant communication trying to make that call," Baldwin said of the different levels.
From 2 to 6 a.m., Baldwin, along with the county administrator and the county engineer's and Emergency Management & Homeland Security offices are texting back and forth during inclement weather.
"Communication and collaboration are extremely important for me in my role," County Administrator Kenneth Wilson said. "As Sheriff Baldwin stated, you can't take a class on this.
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"It's a very difficult call to make, but we have to balance (that with the) safety of our employees."
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, county offices are better prepared for many of its 6,400 employees to work from home, though not all county agencies abide by the same rules, Wilson said.
Various Franklin County courts, for example, operate independently from the county administration, though they often communicate with one another before making any decisions, Wilson said.
nshuda@dispatch.com
@NathanielShuda
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Winter driving in Columbus and Franklin County -- what you need to know
