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A city truck plows the neighborhood streets in Glenwood Springs Friday afternoon during another snow storm.
GLENWOOD SPRINGS - The skiers and the snowboarders love it.
But several days of falling, fluffy white stuff have caused difficulties for area commuters, and city and county agencies charged with keeping the roads clear.
Gary Haas, 39, who lives in Glenwood Springs, said he has had been having difficulty getting out his neighborhood because of all the snow and infrequent snowplowing in the area.
"The main streets in (Glenwood) are good, but the side streets are poor," he said while sitting in his car and next to the city's fire station on Cooper Street in Glenwood. "I am hoping that when I get home, they've been through with the snowplows."
But several days of falling, fluffy white stuff have caused difficulties for area commuters, and city and county agencies charged with keeping the roads clear.
Gary Haas, 39, who lives in Glenwood Springs, said he has had been having difficulty getting out his neighborhood because of all the snow and infrequent snowplowing in the area.
"The main streets in (Glenwood) are good, but the side streets are poor," he said while sitting in his car and next to the city's fire station on Cooper Street in Glenwood. "I am hoping that when I get home, they've been through with the snowplows."
Robin Millyard, the public works director for the city of Glenwood, said snowfall through the week and what fell on Friday - which he said was not forecast - led him to find city staff to work overtime to catch up on removing snow from areas of the city this weekend. He said some crews have been coming in at 4 a.m. to clear city roads and the work has been stretching them thin.
"But that's our job," Millyard said.
He said it was difficult to determine how much snow removal might cost because the city's fiscal year just began Jan. 1.
The city has a hierarchy to its snow removal process, Millyard said. Commercial, business and school routes are cleared first, with residential areas at the bottom of the order, he said.
Because of the continuing snowfall, the Garfield County Road and Bridge Department may have to go back to the county commissioners to request more money - used to pay for expenses like "IceSlicer" that is used to break ice on area roads - than was requested for 2008, said Marvin Stephens, the county's road and bridge director. According to the county's 2008 budget, there is $35,000 appropriated for snowplowing and ice removal.
That budget does not include money for labor or truck maintenance, Stephens said.
"It has bit into my snowplow budget pretty good," Stephens said of the constantly falling snow. "If it keeps going, we will have to go back to (county) commissioners and ask for more money."
A figure for how much the county has spent on recent snow removal was not immediately available.
"But that's our job," Millyard said.
He said it was difficult to determine how much snow removal might cost because the city's fiscal year just began Jan. 1.
The city has a hierarchy to its snow removal process, Millyard said. Commercial, business and school routes are cleared first, with residential areas at the bottom of the order, he said.
Because of the continuing snowfall, the Garfield County Road and Bridge Department may have to go back to the county commissioners to request more money - used to pay for expenses like "IceSlicer" that is used to break ice on area roads - than was requested for 2008, said Marvin Stephens, the county's road and bridge director. According to the county's 2008 budget, there is $35,000 appropriated for snowplowing and ice removal.
That budget does not include money for labor or truck maintenance, Stephens said.
"It has bit into my snowplow budget pretty good," Stephens said of the constantly falling snow. "If it keeps going, we will have to go back to (county) commissioners and ask for more money."
A figure for how much the county has spent on recent snow removal was not immediately available.
When snow blasts the area, Garfield County has 11 motor graders and another 18 trucks with sanders and snowplows.
Stephens said county road and bridge employees have been out almost every morning clearing area roads for about two weeks now.
"The foreman gets up about 1 a.m. in the morning and (gets) out and starts calling the snow drivers in," Stephens said. "We try get all of our bus routes and the mail routes done before the kids have to get to school. Then we try to make sure they get home, too."
The county has only one crew to get out and battle the snow because it doesn't have enough people to run two shifts, Stephens said.
"If the state patrol or the sheriff has an accident (to attend to) out there, we will respond to them," Stephens said. "But we have to be careful about working through the clock or we won't have anybody."
County snowplow drivers clear roads all the way from DeBeque to Sweetwater, which is northwest of Dotsero, and plow roads with elevation gains of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, Stephens said. Steep roads like County Road 114 heading to Spring Valley and Four Mile Road, which can be heavily traveled, can take "a lot of extra time and effort," Stephens said.
Judy Hoskins, the owner of the downtown Glenwood Cafe, said she was frustrated with the snowplowing in front of her business. She spoke as she cleared snow off her truck on Cooper Street in Glenwood Springs.
Stephens said county road and bridge employees have been out almost every morning clearing area roads for about two weeks now.
"The foreman gets up about 1 a.m. in the morning and (gets) out and starts calling the snow drivers in," Stephens said. "We try get all of our bus routes and the mail routes done before the kids have to get to school. Then we try to make sure they get home, too."
The county has only one crew to get out and battle the snow because it doesn't have enough people to run two shifts, Stephens said.
"If the state patrol or the sheriff has an accident (to attend to) out there, we will respond to them," Stephens said. "But we have to be careful about working through the clock or we won't have anybody."
County snowplow drivers clear roads all the way from DeBeque to Sweetwater, which is northwest of Dotsero, and plow roads with elevation gains of 2,000 to 3,000 feet, Stephens said. Steep roads like County Road 114 heading to Spring Valley and Four Mile Road, which can be heavily traveled, can take "a lot of extra time and effort," Stephens said.
Judy Hoskins, the owner of the downtown Glenwood Cafe, said she was frustrated with the snowplowing in front of her business. She spoke as she cleared snow off her truck on Cooper Street in Glenwood Springs.
"I don't think they are doing a real good job this year," Hoskins said of city crews, comparing this year to other years with as much snow.
Workers for Richard's Property Management & Maintenance Inc., which has been removing snow from sidewalks, driveways and roofs in 60 sites from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, have been working nonstop in the wake of the recent snowstorms, said Richard Palardy, owner of the business.
"It hasn't stopped. My god, we're working, 12, 15, 17, 18 hours a day," said Palardy, who has about 30 snow-removal contracts. "We've got two trucks and about eight guys working constantly. This is an epic year of snowfall."
Palardy has been in the Roaring Fork Valley since the mid-1970s and he said he hasn't seen a similar snowfall.
"The financial part is astronomical, but (the amount of snow) is wearing us down, it is wearing my guys down," Palardy said. "Someone turn the switch off."
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
Workers for Richard's Property Management & Maintenance Inc., which has been removing snow from sidewalks, driveways and roofs in 60 sites from Aspen to Glenwood Springs, have been working nonstop in the wake of the recent snowstorms, said Richard Palardy, owner of the business.
"It hasn't stopped. My god, we're working, 12, 15, 17, 18 hours a day," said Palardy, who has about 30 snow-removal contracts. "We've got two trucks and about eight guys working constantly. This is an epic year of snowfall."
Palardy has been in the Roaring Fork Valley since the mid-1970s and he said he hasn't seen a similar snowfall.
"The financial part is astronomical, but (the amount of snow) is wearing us down, it is wearing my guys down," Palardy said. "Someone turn the switch off."
Contact Phillip Yates: 384-9117pyates@postindependent.com
Post Independent, Glenwood Springs, Colorado CO
