By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Over a 24 hour period, City of Great Bend street crews’ biggest problem dealing with ice and snow removal was the drifting snow. Great Bend Public Works Director Jason Cauley said staff was called in at 4 a.m. Tuesday and started hitting the streets around 5:30 a.m.
The city’s fleet includes two snow plows, three motor graders and three loaders.
"The plows we send to help open areas," said Cauley. "The graders were hitting Main Street, 10th Street and around the hospitals. The loaders follow the graders and ideally open up the intersections. As we blade through the intersection, cause a little bit of a pileup, our loaders go through and open those intersections up."
Shortly after noon Tuesday, crews had the majority of the priority streets cleared in Great Bend and then started working on secondary streets such as Lakin Avenue and 17th Street Terrace.
"We do not do residential streets because of the amount of work we have just to get the priority streets and secondary streets cleared," said Cauley. "It's a very time-consuming process. Sometimes we can't even fit our equipment down a residential street due to cars parked on both sides of the street."
As the snow is removed, the city has drivers lay down salt and sand to assist with the ice and traction. Cauley said the majority of the priority streets are wide enough that crews do not have issues with nearby parked vehicles.