HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 1/30/2024 - Memorandum From Mallory Gallegos And James Reed Re: City Of Fort Collins Snow And Ice Removal OperationsPlanning, Development and Transportation
Streets Department
625 Ninth Street
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
970-221-6615
Streets@fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
Date: January 24, 2024
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, PDT Service Area Director
Drew Brooks, Deputy PDT Director
From: Mallory Gallegos, Streets Director
James Reed, Sr. Manager, Transportation Operations
Subject: City of Fort Collins Snow and Ice Removal Operations
The purpose of this memo is to provide an overview of the City of Fort Collins Snow Removal
Operation to ensure safe streets, sidewalks, and bike lanes for the traveling public during winter
weather conditions.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Streets Department is the primary responder during snow emergencies and is responsible
for roadway snow and deicing activities throughout the City of Fort Collins. Snow removal is a
collaborative process, and many departments assist with staff and equipment, including Traffic
Operations, Utilities, Parks, Forestry, and Operation Services.
The Streets Department’s current snow removal response plan includes setting the priority
levels of plowing 1,052 lane miles (Arterials, Collectors, School Routes) of City streets.
Dangerous conditions like icy streets are immediately handled in an expeditious manner as
resources are available. The first essential responsibility during a snow event is to ensure that
fire, police, and medical services can safely navigate our streets to reach those in need.
Prioritization of snow clearing efforts is based on connecting transportation networks for
emergency response, usage, and critical infrastructure access.
Priority 1 – Arterial Streets (e.g. Prospect, College) – Priority 1 streets are
considered the minimum network which must be kept open to provide a
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transportation system connecting hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and rescue
squad units.
Priority 2 – Collector Streets (e.g. Remington, Swallow) – Priority 2 streets complete
the network of major traffic volume streets. Collector streets are not plowed curb-to-
curb; and snow is plowed to the gutter.
Priority 3 – School Areas and Bus Routes – These streets include all remaining
collectors, bus routes, and access to schools. Priority 3 streets are not plowed curb-
to-curb; and snow is plowed to the gutter.
Priority 4 – Residential Streets – When snow depths reach 12 inches or a point that
residential streets are impassable and emergency vehicles and residents cannot
navigate to a collector, then additional residential street are plowed.
Bike Lanes/Facilities: Bike lanes/facilities that are on Priority Streets are plowed as
part of our standard snow operations to support community access to year-round,
multi modal transportation choices.
Snow removal services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure a safe
transportation network for emergency services and mobility for all modes of transportation.
Throughout the snow season two crews rotate on a bi-weekly basis to cover two shifts,
scheduled from midnight to noon and from noon to midnight. A Streets Department Snow Crew
Chief is on snow standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to track weather conditions and
respond to notification of snow events. The network of snow removal efforts includes 540 lane
miles of Priority 1 streets, 244 lane miles of Priority 2 streets, 268 lane miles of Priority 3 streets,
103 miles of sidewalks, 13 miles of protected bike lanes,17 parking lots and three parking
garages.
TECHNOLOGY
The City of Fort Collins uses the latest technology to assist with accurate weather forecasting
and road condition monitoring stations to ensure optimal material application, equipment
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readiness and staff preparedness. The Streets Department uses a Maintenance Decision
Support System (MDSS) for forecasting snow weather events. The MDSS program assists in
the decision-making effort for planning personnel, equipment, and material usage. The systems
in place provide forecasting for snow accumulation rate, air temperatures, pavement
temperatures, wind speed/chill/direction, and overall duration of predicted storms.
The Streets Department has 13 stationary Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) stations
positioned strategically throughout the City to observe pavement and weather conditions
continuously. These stationary stations are critical for snow and ice control, providing real-time
data on pavement and weather conditions. This includes live pavement temperatures, air
temperatures, wind speed/direction, ice or snow layer thickness, video feeds (both live and
historical), and road surface level of grips. Additionally, 12 plow vehicles are upfitted with Mobile
Detector MD30s allowing for accurately live data transmitted from the plow providing road
surface state, ice and snow layer thickness, onboard plow video (both live and historical), levels
of grip, and surface temperatures along the route. This crucial information enhances the
awareness of road conditions for the drivers and management, offering real-time plow and
material application performance.
Community members can visit the City of Fort Collins Snowplow Tracking Site on the City of
Fort Collins website fcgov.com/streets to follow snowplow vehicles as they move through the
city. The map will show the location of snowplows and where snowplows have been in the
previous four hours.
PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT
Total snow removal efforts for both crews includes a total of 48 snowplow CDL drivers, six snow
crew chiefs, two heavy equipment operators, two parking lot plows drivers, one small equipment
operator, three to four sidewalk snow removal operators and two operations managers.
During a snowstorm, a fleet of 24 plow trucks are deployed. Two pickup plow trucks, one skid-
steer, and one loader are used to clean snow from City parking lots, parking garages, protected
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bike lanes and ADA parking spaces in the Downtown area between 2:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
The City will clear specified public sidewalks on arterial streets, collector streets, bridges, and
sidewalks adjacent to City property. The effort of sidewalk clearing involves two Streets
Department small equipment operators and three different contractors, reaching 103 miles of
total sidewalk snow clearing. The Streets Department strives to have these surfaces cleared of
snow and ice within 24 hours of the end of every storm.
Comprehensive classroom and hands-on training for equipment are conducted annually for all
personnel involved in snow control activities, ensuring the efficient utilization of equipment,
materials, and focus for the latest technology. This annual training is tailored and conducted for
new and existing employees.
MATERIALS
To minimize environmental impacts of snow and ice control, the City uses alternative deicing
and granular materials, which have been approved by Clear Roads. Clear Roads is a national
research consortium focused on rigorous testing of winter maintenance materials, equipment
and methods used by highway and city snow maintenance crews. Additionally, Clear Roads
conducts product testing for harmful chemicals, toxicity and to ensure the levels of application is
not harmful on the environment and corrosion to metals.
Road Salt is our primary granular product, also known as sodium chloride or salt.
Before use, this product is pre-wetted with magnesium chloride (Apex/Torch) to
reduce corrosion and enhance the effective meltdown of application.
Salt Brine is water saturated with sodium chloride. Essentially, this is rock salt
dissolved into water. This product application is utilized in two ways: Anti-Icing (the
effort of application prior to a storm event) or Deicing (the efforts of snow removal
during/after a storm event). The process of Anti-Icing activates the rock salt, while
helping the product adhere to the roadway and ultimately creating a barrier bond
between the snow and asphalt, while reducing overall chloride usage to the roadway.
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The salt brine is blended with a corrosion inhibitor, enabling effective application at
15°F or higher.
Magnesium Chloride Brine (Apex/Torch) is utilized to support deicing efforts in
temperatures below 15°F. This brine spreads over the ice and breaks the bond with
the pavement or road, allowing for easier snow removal. Apex MeltDown Liquid has
a low eutectic point that works effectively in a broad variety of temperature ranges.
Its exceedingly high ability to dilute and hold water before refreezing improves the
all-weather performance of this product. Additionally, Apex MeltDown Liquid is
among the least harmful of common deicers to vegetation and groundwater
according to independent studies conducted by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. It is non-irritating and safer to handle and less harmful to road surfaces
and metals when used.
Salt Brine costs approximately 1/3rd the price of Magnesium Chloride brine and is manufactured
on-site. Salt Brine also reduces the number of chlorides by 1/4th the traditional Road Salt
application.
Each snowstorm presents a set of unique characteristics that vary from air temperature,
pavement temperatures, snow accumulation rates, wind speed and duration. All these
characteristics are closely analyzed to ensure proper application rates that are utilized on a
national level. Incorporating additives provides cost savings and minimizes environmental
impact by allowing us to utilize our Salt Brine at lower pavement temperatures.
Streets Department staff regularly evaluate other products available and compare cost and
effectiveness. For example, Ice Slicer by Envirotech and Torch Red-Ice melt by GMCO are
$125 plus a ton, whereas our road salt, hauled in by rail, is $62.72 per ton. We currently use
calcium chloride-based Headwaters Hot additive which allows us to utilize salt brine at a lower
pavement temperature and lower cost than other salt brine additives. Other salt brine additives
include Beet 55, Beat Heat, GLT and AMP.
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BUDGET AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS
The Streets Department works diligently to forecast the amount of funding needed for each
year’s Snow and Ice Control Program. Due to the varied winter weather conditions (total
accumulation, temperatures, duration, and total number of annual snowstorm events),
estimating the budget is done by looking at data from previous years, while incorporating road,
bike, and sidewalk expansion. Figure 1 below represents a “Cost Breakdown of Total Snow
Operations Budget.” This graph depicts the different categories that compose the total budget
for the Snow and Ice Program.
Figure 2 displays “Budget Comparison of Original vs Actual Spend.” Historically, actual
spending has exceeded the Snow and Ice Removal Budget on an annual basis. The three main
factors in the increased costs for snow removal are increased operational costs, extremely cold
temperatures, and large storms. The presence of extremely cold temperatures and/or ice
requires the use of more de-icing material to keep roads safe, and more labor hours to remove
ice. Other factors impacting the cost of snow removal include increases in personnel costs,
material costs, contractor sidewalk snow removal costs, and the addition of new lane miles.
FIGURE 1: COST BREAKDOWN OF TOTAL SNOW OPERATIONS BUDGET
The categories range from largest on the bottom (materials) to smallest on top (Protected Bike Lanes).
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FIGURE 2: BUDGET COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL BUDGET VS ACTUAL SPEND
The Streets Department utilizes the annual adjustment process and requests appropriation to
cover the gap between budget and actual costs by using one-time reserves each year. We
intend to address this on a more systemic basis in the 2025-2026 budget process.
-
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Overview of Snow and Ice Control
Budget
BFO Offers Requested Approved Budget Actual Spent
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