Snow & Ice Removal Policy
Snow and ice removal will not start outside of normal working hours until the snow storm is over. If there is blowing and drifting snow, it will not start until the winds taper off. The Cloud County Highway Department is not staffed to run 24 hours per day. Snow removal may be done for emergency situations as needed during the storm.
SNOW REMOVAL SEQUENCE:
Paved Roads
Snow removal on paved roads will not occur until there is approximately 2” of snow on the surface. If there are places of drifted snow, removal will take place.
In most cases truck plows are used for snow removal on paved roads. If snow amounts are too much for the trucks to handle other equipment will be used.
For the safety of the operator and traveling public, the earliest plow trucks will start will be around sunrise. They will run continuous until all routes have been traveled.
Non-Paved Roads
The order in which snow removal will take place as follows:
1. AFAS routes and Connecting links.
2. Class “B” residential roads.
3. Class “B” non-residential surfaced roads.
4. Class “B” unsurfaced roads.
In some cases class "B" unsurfaced roads may not be opened unless there is livestock the owner needs to get to.
As stated earlier, snow removal will not start outside of normal working hours until the storm is over.
Depending on snowfall amounts, and if there is any drifting, the Highway Department will have all FAS, Connecting Links, and Class “B” residential roads opened in a twelve hour period. In some cases if snowfall amounts are minimal, and still allow for traffic to flow without any trouble, overtime on snow removal will be limited.
SAND AND SALT POLICY
The County does not have the resources to treat every mile of paved surface with salt and sand. Therefore the following procedures will be used when treating roads with sand and/or salt.
Sand spreading will take place on paved roads after the snow plows have gone over them. The following areas will be treated with sand:
- Stop sign intersections
- Curves
- Hills
- Bridges
Salt Spreading:
Major intersections on paved roads leading to State and US highways will be treated with salt.
The exception to salt and sand use on all county paved roads will be at the discretion of the Cloud County Highway Department personnel. If there are locations where the weather is not allowing the ice to melt, salt and/or sand may be used to help alleviate the problem.
