East Oregon News

During winter weather, roads and other public spaces are treated by crews from two City departments: Public Works or Parks and Recreation. The weather treatments are designed to improve safety for local residents and visitors, and both departments take an “all hands on deck” approach, arriving early in the morning and often working all day.

The winter weather response procedure for the City of Pendleton includes multiple elements:

• Application of gravel to City owned streets to improve traction during slick conditions
• Snow removal and/or application of gravel around schools and bus stops
• Snow removal for publicly owned sidewalks, staircases, and parking lots
• Snow removal for walkways, bridges, and roads within City parks
• Snow removal and plowing at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport

Most of the winter weather procedures follow priority lists, which are available on the City of Pendleton website under Public Works Documents.  Crews begin at the top of the first priority list and move down the list(s) as time and conditions allow. Crews from Public Works handle roads and publicly owned sidewalks, staircases, and parking lots; crews from Parks and Recreation handle walkways and roads in and around City Hall and City Parks, including roads at Olney Cemetery.

Between the two departments, snow and ice is removed from more than 50 walkways, bridges, and parking lots in Pendleton. On the roads side, there are 86 streets listed in Public Works’ three priority lists; the school priority list, used on school days and other days as requested by the district, adds an additional 29.

The priority lists and standard operating procedures are available online here or by clicking any of the following links:

• Standard Operating Procedure - Winter Weather Conditions
• School Routes
• Priority Routes
• Public Works Snow Removal for Publicly Owned Sidewalks, Staircases, and Parking Lots
• Parks and Recreation Snow Removal List

Each winter, local residents ask why the City of Pendleton no longer owns and operates a snow plow to clear the streets. Public Works Director Bob Patterson said to use a plow would require no on-street parking for routes to allow the snow to be moved into the parking lanes, residents would have to dig out their driveways to access the street, and it would be very difficult to operate on the narrow roads and steep hills that make up many of Pendleton’s city streets.  Instead, the City of Pendleton applies gravel to roads to give drivers traction during winter weather.  That gravel is applied by two-worker crews following a priority list of streets. Those priority lists are determined by amount of use and risk to drivers in winter conditions.

After treating all three priority list streets, crews may move on to lay gravel on other streets and areas not covered in the list, and the crew can use their own judgment on which streets should be graveled.

The only area regularly plowed during winter weather is the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport. The airport runways are flat, and plows are required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Original source can be found here.