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2- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 20, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Works department doing its best not to be snowed under By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF With spring still a long way away and snowstorms happening almost weekly, all eyes turn to the Town of Oakville's snow removal crews to clear the streets and keep Old Man Winter's fury from causing undue inconvenience. Unfortunately, as Director for the Town's Department of Roads and Works Operations Dan Cozzi points out, performing this duty has not been particularly easy this year. "This has been a challenging winter for the Town of Oakville and the surrounding municipalities. We've received about 140 cm of snow since the beginning of wintertime," said Cozzi. "Since January we've probably experienced more than double the amount of snow we typically get. We've spent roughly twice the amount of time and money that we normally spend on winter control." Cozzi noted that currently his department has 94 pieces of equipment at its disposal with which to remove snow from the Town's roads and sidewalks, and there is a science as to what streets get done first. The Town's primary roads, such as Trafalgar and Speers, are plowed first along with the secondary roads that connect them. Cozzi said clearing the roads this LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER PLOWING AHEAD: Dan Cozzi, director of Oakville's Department of Roads and Works operations, with snow plow operator Mike Manning. way allows emergency service vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances to get around the Town more easily, plus, it gets the public transit system back up and running during or shortly after the snowstorm. The residential streets and sidewalks come next and are normally cleared within 24 hours after the end of the storm, however, Cozzi stressed this has not been a normal winter. "We've been receiving a lot more freezing rain and wet snow, which freezes and causes us all kinds of problems," said Cozzi. "Our main streets and secondary streets are always fairly bare a day or two after the storm and that's because we use a lot of salt and anti-icing liquid on the pavement. We don't use salt as much as we want to because it's not the friendliest thing for the environment." This increased freezing rain and wet snow has resulted in ice encrusted residential roads and angry residents, who look outside and believe their street has not been plowed properly. Cozzi said the Town's snow line has been ringing off the hook with residents asking questions about snow removal. "We're doing our best to explain to them that you just can't scrape the stuff off with a plow," said Cozzi. "People think that a plow has a lot of downward pressure and it can scrape a road bare, but when you have snow like that, you can't. If you take a drive into the neighbouring municipalities, you will find the conditions are the same." While freezing rain does cause its share of plowing problems, the design of some streets in Oakville is not helping. "Some sections of north Oakville are more challenging than others. There are different types of homes there and the density is a little higher on some streets and the driveways are much closer to each other," said Cozzi. "There's not a whole lot of storage space on the side of the road." Concern about the heavy snow that the plow pushes into driveways, also known as windrows, is another concern residents frequently bring to the attention of Cozzi. He points out that the Town does have a windrow pilot project in place that removes windrows for seniors and the physically handicapped at a price of $80 per season. At a recent Town Council meet- ing, Cozzi noted that a permanent more widescale windrow program would cost the Town more than $1 million per season. As the snow continues to fall, Cozzi said his snow removal crews have been working day and night for the last few weeks to keep Oakville's roads and sidewalks clear with only brief intervals of rest in between snowfalls. There is a high turnover rate among the snowplow operators supplied by contractors, which is significant as about 60 per cent of the Town's snow removal fleet is made up of contractors. "That's a challenge because experience is a good thing," said Cozzi. "On a few occasions some of our contractors have had some difficulties. In a couple of areas I know the operator went in and maybe didn't do the job as well he could. What I find is that it takes a storm or two for everybody to get used to the route. If you're driving a vehicle in the middle of the night in the worst conditions and you've been driving for 10 hours it is possible to miss a road." Before the winter is over, these operators are sure to get plenty of practice. 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