Pittsfield has Just Enough Contractors for Snow Removal
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's ability to dig out from snowstorms is right on the edge: it's short more than a dozen private contractors to supplement the Highway Department's plowing of more than 200 miles of road.
Commissioner of Public Services and Utilities Ricardo Morales said the city has about 35 contractors to cover Pittsfield's 30 quadrants or contiguous land areas. Normally, there are about 50 contractors ready to answer the call for a storm.
"Right now we have enough contractors to cover for all of our quadrants but that is basically it, we have just enough," Morales said.
This can become a challenge if a contractor cannot work that day, if snow removal has to be a little more aggressive in terms of extreme weather, or if there are time constraints.
Plowing is divided into two types: the quadrants and six main routes —such as North Street, South Street, and the city part of West Housatonic Street — that are normally covered by the Highway Department. That's about 77 miles of road.
To be fully staffed, the department usually has 12 employees to go on 12-hour shifts during a significant event over the six routes. The Highway Department is down a few employees and, because of this, contractors or laborers from other city divisions who are licensed to plow are filling the gap.
Staffing had improved during the warmer months.
"In terms of staffing for the city, we became a little better last year during summer and fall months with staffing, we were at one point caught up completely with our staff, but we're down three licensed drivers in the highway division," Morales said.
"So we're managing that in a very similar way as last year, this year, this winter has been very different from the last couple winters so we're facing new challenges in that way.”
Around this time last year, Morales also reported a shortage of contractors to the City Council. Pittsfield has struggled with hiring contractors for the several years.
The commissioner said plowing challenges in the downtown corridor have everything to do with parking and not the bike lanes. From Park Square to Waconah Street, North Street is reconfigured to be one-lane traffic with a buffered bike lane as part of a pilot program. A number of complaints have made about the bike lanes, including a petition championed by Councilor at Large Karen Kalinowsky to remove them.
"Our success at plowing effectively on North Street is fully tied with how we manage parking restrictions during the snow event, so on an event like the ice storm that we saw earlier in January, we did not call for a snow emergency so parking and alternate side parking was not in effect," he said. "People were parking wherever they wanted, that was very difficult for us to manage.
"But fast forward to the last event, or the last couple, where we have called the snow emergency, that's been very different, we have been able to accommodate and then work around those issues in a much easier way because we have organized how people are parking to a better result."
In late 2020, the City Council voted to adopt alternate side parking for snow emergencies that dictates which side of the street vehicles can be parked on a given day based on even and odd street numbers.
Alternate side parking aims to allow for more efficient seasonal cleanup and for high-density areas that may not have sufficient parking to be able to park on the street through the winter.
Morales also spoke to the removable white posts used as a buffer for the bike lanes, which are not located in areas of parking or street crossings. He said it is important for the city to be part of the pilot program for learning opportunities such as managing snow around bicycle infrastructure.
The city reportedly found that removable posts were easier in certain segments for snow removal.
He also explained that the bike lanes are to be plowed like any other travel lane during the winter.
"They are plowed the same way, we don't need any special equipment or anything like that," Morales said about the bike lanes.
"In the event that they're separated completely from the traveling that that would be different, we would need to employ specialized equipment or a separate time to do that."
Tags: snow removal,
.jpg)
