Hick furrows brow over plows of folly

Denver mayor says logistics demand more machinery

Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 27, 2006 at midnight

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Mayor John Hickenlooper said Tuesday that Denver doesn't have nearly enough snowplows and might have to spend millions of dollars to buy new ones.

But Denver's public-works director questions whether a huge expenditure is worth it, considering that a storm such as the blizzard of 2006 is such a rare event.

The mayor, who's digging out from a blizzard of public criticism for the city's handling of the storm, said what many residents already know: The city has had "a lot of trouble" clearing side streets.

"I've driven in every part of the city, and I've seen streets that still had 6 to 8 inches of this compacted ice in every quadrant," Hickenlooper said.

"We might not need 80 new pieces of equipment. Maybe we only need 60. But we need to make an estimation of what is the appropriate amount of equipment so we can . . . keep our streets clean," the mayor said at a news conference on an icy side street in west Denver.

On Monday, the mayor said he wanted to study how other snowy cities deal with big storms, including fitting garbage trucks with snowplows.

Denver's Department of Public Works has 68 snowplows, six loaders and six graders, many of which have been operating nonstop since last Wednesday.

New snowplows cost about $200,000 each, so an additional 80 would cost about $16 million, not including costs for staffing.

"I would argue" that the expense is not worth it, said Bill Vidal, the city's manager of public works.

"These are major, major storms that require all of us to chip in," he said. "Clearly, no one is going to raise taxes. So do you trade off a shelter for the homeless? Do you trade off more cops on the road for this? I think that's a question for policymakers."

Hickenlooper said he would meet with the City Council to discuss whether buying more equipment to deal with another major storm should be the city's next priority.

The mayor and Vidal said the city would continue to deploy plows to residential streets still covered by thick patches of ice and snow. The city will schedule 12-hour shifts until the job is done.

At the same time, street crews are preparing for the possibility of another major storm Thursday.

"I do worry that if we don't get as much snow off the streets as we possibly can, we run the risk of being vulnerable if another large storm comes in," the mayor said.

"We will put all of our efforts to try to get" that done, he said.

But if snow starts falling, Denver will again focus on clearing major arterials and connector streets.

"That's how ambulances get around. That's how we're able to get firetrucks where they need to go," Hickenlooper said. "As long as we keep those arterials open, we will put as many trucks as we possibly can in the neighborhoods."

That was the plan of attack last week.

But that didn't sit well with many residents, who felt stranded and are now complaining about deep, icy ruts.

When snow stopped falling Thursday afternoon, Denver dispatched about 30 light vehicles equipped with snowplows to make a single pass through neighborhood streets.

Vidal said that tactic may have backfired in some ways.

Not only did it build up false expectations that people would be able to see asphalt, but: "People are saying, 'I never saw a plow,' " Vidal said.

"Well, we made one pass," he said. "That's what we did. Unless you were watching your street 24 hours a day, chances are you missed it."

By the numbers

60.3 inches Average annual snowfall in Denver

68 Number of snowplows Denver has, including six backups

6 Number of graders

6 Number of loaders

chacond@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5099

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