BOZEMAN — BOZEMAN - While it looks like we're going to have a white Christmas this year, which certainly delights most, some drivers may be dreading the icy slick streets of Bozeman.
“We knew it was going to come eventually, sooner or later we were going to get hit and it was kind of a worst-case scenario as far as warmer temperatures and then drastically cooling off,” said Matt Workman, Superintendent of Streets Division.
When asked if the Bozeman crew was ever unprepared, Workman had a short answer: “No."
Actually, preparation for this season started last summer.
“We have all of our sand ordered and stockpiled already," said Workman. "We have all of our chloride that we pretreat the sand with as it hits the ground, so we’re really prepped and ready when it comes to snow.”
But the Streets Division is dealing with worker shortages like many other businesses.
“So we are a few guys down but our 3 a.m. crew which does all the heavy lifting so to say, we’re fully staffed at that and they’re the ones that open up all the streets so people can get to the shopping centers, get to their business, get to the hospital, get to wherever they need to go, so that’s fully staffed and everything gets opened up by 8 am,” said Workman.
Crews are working through the day as needed.
“And then we have an 8 am crew that starts and then they continue with operations of plowing or sanding, and then we have a weekend crew too.”
And if you’re wondering if a street has been or will be plowed, you can look online at the city’s website.
"All of our plows and our graders have AVLs which is the automatic vehicle locating system and then we can track where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing so if they’ve been sanding or if they’ve been plowing and then it gives us real-time data as far as where we need to go and where we haven’t been,” said Workman.
Something to keep in mind: If you see a plow on the roadway, you should stay back and never try to pass it.
