City shares snow removal plans

When snow storms hit Green River, the city’s streets department hits the roads running, scraping, salting and sanding.

The city’s policy of when to start scraping the streets is when the snow level reaches 2 inches, but even so, the city’s snow removal trucks are sent out much sooner. Streets Supervisor Randy Koloff said they will receive calls from the police department soon after a snow storm, alerting them of visible deteriorating driving conditions before a wreck happens.

When the snow stops, the streets department deploys with six trucks at their disposal. Their plan of attack starts with designated first priority streets, second priority street, known as residential slick spots.

Green River’s first priority streets are Uinta Drive, Monroe Avenue, Riverview Drive, Astle Avenue, Flaming Gorge Way, 2nd South, South 4th North, and South and North 4th West.

When removing snow from larger streets such as Uinta Drive, the trucks clear the streets in pairs.

The city’s second priority streets are Upland Way, Hitching Post Drive, Indian Hills Drive, Shoshone Avenue, Bridger Drive, West Teton Boulevard, East Teton Boulevard, and Colorado Drive.

“We can get all these streets within a couple hours after it quits snowing,” Koloff said.

After priority streets are finished, then come the priority residential icy areas, which are dispersed throughout the city.

As long as the snow storm persists, Koloff said snow removal is a 24-hour job. When they are not scraping, they are often salting and sanding the roads.

“The timing of the storm is real critical,” Koloff said. “A lot of the storms happen about five o’clock in the morning ... so that gives us till’ seven, and that’s when school busses are running and we’re right in the middle of a storm.”

Snow storms don’t take a city’s high-traffic hours into consideration when they blanket the town with white, but no matter the time, the trucks are out.

“The guys do the same thing every storm,” Koloff said.