ST. LOUIS — Street crews are easing into neutral after round-the-clock snow removal operations.
"Everybody seems to really handle it," Joe Blake said as he cleared the steps outside his Southwest Garden home. "The snow falls, scoop it up, and everybody has to go to work and deal with it,"
Blake said he's largely happy with the work city crews did on his neighborhood's streets.
But not everyone was happy.
St. Louis Commissioner of Streets Kent Flake said his department received about 15 calls from people who reported their streets weren't treated.
"It all comes down to a matter of width and if we can fit down there," Flake said.
City trucks traveled down Kingshighway Boulevard in a pack of four Monday. Considered an arterial route -- or high capacity urban road -- it's one of the first priorities.
Crews also tackled secondary roads and what they call "hill routes" with steep inclines like what you would find in Dogtown.
"That's what we do. What we don't do are all the residentials," Flake said.
City workers maintain and treat 500 of the roughly 1,100 miles inside city limits during a snow storm.
The other areas aren't covered for a variety of reasons.
They're too narrow for their 13-foot wide plows. Dead ends can be incredibly tricky for a large plow hauling hundreds of pounds of salt. And Flake said because the trucks push snow to the side, they're generally going to disappoint half of a street's residents.
"There’s many problems with residentials. Many people want to pile, a lot of people don’t want us to plow them.... If you happen to be on the right side, you’re probably getting plowed In. And if you happen to be on the left side, you’re fine," Flake said. "With a significant snow like this, that’s a lot of shoveling you have got to do if you are on the wrong side of the street."
Flake said some streets are wide enough to accommodate plows during ideal conditions, but "when you have cars parked two or three off the curb because they can’t get as close as they usually are, it’s almost impossible."
Flake said he's happy with his department's work at the end of the storm. And so is Blake... who happens to live on a plowed street.
"It's just a matter of common sense. Stay on the roads that get plowed, and the little side streets and stuff... stay away from them," Blake said. "Once one car gets stuck, then everybody gets stuck. And it's just bad news."
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