City Street crews working to clear residential streets
The City of Fort Wayne's Street Department is working around the clock to clear the city's residential streets, following the weekend's snow. Presuming the weather remains clear, the residential streets will be cleared by Tuesday morning.
Over Saturday and Sunday, street crews worked more than 900 hours and used 1,000 tons of road salt to keep streets clear for vehicles. Sleet followed by 12 straight hours of snow fall, had crews working through the night both Friday and Saturday and then all day on Sunday.
“You can never predict the weather, but this time around things have been heavier than normal. This past weekend we ran pretty much full staff, around the clock,” said Brad Baumgartner, City Street Commissioner. “We want to keep our roads clear for both drivers and emergency vehicles regardless if it's the weekend or work day.”
Clearing residential streets was a necessary move to stay ahead of yet another storm, expected to move in either tonight or tomorrow. Crews will be reassigned from residential streets to priority routes if snow returns.
“We're committed to keeping the streets safe and that comes with a price. The fact that Mayor Henry had the foresight to supplement our nearly empty Motor Vehicle Highway fund with CEDIT funds allowed us to keep staff at capacity during these recent winter storms. It's the first time we've ever had to supplement that fund but it's clear we definitely needed the $800,000 the Mayor moved into our budget,” said Bob Kennedy, Director of Public Works.
The City prioritizes clearing emergency routes, arterial streets and collector streets. After those are cleared, the Street Department will move to residential and side streets if there is at least 3 inches of snow. For the City's snow route map, visit here.