By GAGE WILSON
for Glasgow News 1
Talk of how the Glasgow Road Department handled the recent winter storm dominated the city council’s Monday meeting. Manager Wes Billingsley apprised members of the amount of salt used to clear roads and of measures that could be taken by the city to ease the strain on the department in future events.
Across the days of snow, rain and ice, the department used around 170 tons of salt to help clear roadways, according to Billingsley — about half of the total amount of salt the city keeps in storage.
“The pretreatment resulted in about 13,500 gallons of brine,” he said. “We don’t have the salt supply the state has, so, when it starts, we can’t just start throwing salt at it.”
He went on to explain that his crews worked in 12-hour shifts, with one group beginning at noon and working until midnight, and the next group working from midnight until noon.
Rain posed a major detriment to the crews as snow and slush refroze.
“During the early morning hours of the second shift, it had switched over to rain,” he explained. “And that created chaos.”
Billingsley noted that sanitation crews were busy clearing the city’s storm drains, as an influx of water from melting ice had caused “some flooding” along roadways.
While the council praised the department’s efforts, several members asked if there was anything the body could do to aid the crews.
“Salt goes a long way,” Billingsley answered. “We typically have to wait just to have enough salt for one event.”
Currently, the city has the capacity to keep between 210 and 225 tons of salt; by comparison, the state keeps around 10,000 tons. Billingsley said that increasing the city’s supply would require a new location for a larger dome, as specific criteria must be met for safe storage.
Councilman Joe Trigg asked if Billingsley could offer any advice to residents whose driveways were blocked after snow had been plowed from the roads.
“We’re not going to make everyone happy, and we’ve come to that understanding,” he said. “If they’ll put out the effort to keep their driveway cleaned out, we’ll put out the effort to keep the roads passable.”
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