City of Columbus Snow Removal Plan Earns American Public Works Association National Award For Excellence
The City of Columbus’ snow and ice control plan and snow
removal efforts have earned the American Public Works Association’s national
Award for Excellence. The snow and ice control plan is the City’s guide
for providing residents efficient and timely snow removal. The APWA award
was created to promote excellence in public sector snow and ice operations
management and administration, and best practices in snow and ice removal that
minimize environmental effects.
“We continue to invest in planning, equipment and
state-of-the-art technology to give our Snow Warriors the best resources for
fighting whatever nature throws at us each winter,” said Mayor Michael B.
Coleman. “I am proud that APWA has honored the hard work that goes on
year-round to keep Columbus streets safe during winter storms.”
City’s snow and ice removal
plan’s top priority is safety of the public. The APWA award lauds the
plan’s main goals:
- Reduce life
threatening and injury-producing conditions
- Reduce damage to
property
- Reduce
interruption to commerce
- Minimize
environmental effects associated with snow and ice removal
“The Public Service Department is a shining example of
the innovation and professionalism our residents should expect from the City of
Columbus,” said Councilmember Shannon G. Hardin, chair of the Public Service
& Transportation Committee. “These men and women work in some of the
harshest conditions to improve the safety of our neighborhoods.
They deserve all the credit they are receiving in this national recognition.”
The Department of Public Service reviews and updates the
plan annually, based on past performance and innovations in training, equipment
and technology. Columbus’ snow removal and treatment operations
have been upgraded in the past two years to include:
- Purchase of additional trucks, bringing the
total Snow Warrior fleet in the Department of Public Service to 86 plow trucks,
plus additional trucks from the Department of Public Utilities and Recreation
and Parks Department that give the City a total of 145 snow plow vehicles
- Creation of the Warrior Watch website
(warriorwatch.columbus.gov) that allows the media and public to see when
specific streets have been plowed in the past 72 hours
- The cross-training of additional City employees
to drive snow plow trucks, bringing the total to more than 300 City employees
who can be called on to help during extreme winter weather conditions.
- The installation of GPS/AVL units with sensors
on all City snow plowing trucks that provide real-time tracking of the trucks’
locations, speeds and whether their plow blades are down and salt spreaders are
turned on
- The City’s snow plow fleet is getting greener,
with more than 50% of snow plow trucks running on CNG. The City plans to
convert the entire fleet to CNG-powered trucks within the next four years.
The award will be presented to the City at APWA’s 2015 North
American Snow Conference that will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, April
12-15. APWA is a not-for-profit international organization with more than
29,500 members, including municipal, county and state public works agencies
nationwide. APWA’s headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri; the
organization also has an office in Washington, D.C.