Plows to prioritize 750-mile snow-route network ahead of expected 24-hour storm, speaker says

An unidentified speaker said the city will use a two-step snow-removal plan that focuses first on a 750-mile snow-route system to keep major roads and emergency vehicles moving ahead of a storm that could last about 24 hours.

The speaker said the two-step approach concentrates plowing crews and equipment on the designated snow-route network — the principal roadways used for travel and emergency response — before crews begin plowing the remainder of residential streets. "We two-step our plowing operations so that we can put all of our effort and all of our snow piles onto the snow route system," the speaker said.

According to the speaker, the snow-route system represents roughly one-third of the municipality's total roadway mileage; the remaining approximately 1,400 miles of neighborhood streets will be plowed after crews complete the snow routes. The speaker said the prioritization helps ensure that "police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and everybody else" can get around during the event.

The speaker also noted that no one lives more than four blocks from a snow route, a point offered to underline the accessibility of the prioritized network during storms. On operational sequencing, the speaker said plows will concentrate on snow routes during heavy snowfall and then move into neighborhoods "after the snow stops falling." "Whatever mother nature decides to do with this snowstorm, we're ready for it and we'll be able to to push it off and get our roads back to normal as quickly as we can," the speaker added.

The speaker did not provide a name, agency, or jurisdiction in the remarks, nor did they specify staffing levels, equipment counts or estimated clearance times for neighborhoods. Those details were not stated in the available transcript.