As our community is affected by one of the strongest snow storms in recent memory, the City of Rawlins Public Works and other departments would like to share some information:
- For situations such as emergencies, injury, and illness, plows are dispatched with the first responders to provide access to the residential areas where accessibility is a concern.
- We encourage people to submit areas where there are problems to us through our website at www.rawlinswy.gov/concern, by calling Public Works at 307-328-4599 during business hours, or by calling dispatch at 307-328-4530 on nights, weekends, and holidays. These areas will be added to the list to be handled when staff and equipment are available.
- Crews have been working 12-hour shifts on snow removal since Monday. We estimate that staff have dedicated almost 1000-man hours since Sunday evening.
- Staff from Public Works, including streets, utilities, water treatment, and administration, Community Development, including landfill, recycling, and administration, and Parks & Recreation have been using all available equipment for snow removal.
- Today (Wednesday) our crews were divided between picking up and transporting snow on the priority 1 and 2 streets, salt-sanding dangerous intersections, and making first passes through neighborhoods with a focus on school bus routes. There are approximately 85 miles of streets in Rawlins.
- Unfortunately, when heavy snow falls and we plow the road, this can lead to windrows which may impede access to driveways or vehicles parked on the streets. It is too costly and time consuming to remove all this snow, as our primary duty is to the keep the roadways open.
- We are following our snow removal priority plan passed by the council in 2020, which is based on traffic volume, hill steepness, bus routes, and proximity to schools and businesses. Our first goal is to have priority 1 and 2 streets plowed and sanded, with all priority 3 streets and other problematic residential areas following. The snow removal plan was designed so very few residents must go more than a few blocks to get to a plowed street. Find more at www.rawlinswy.gov/snow
- Please continue to leave additional room around snow removal equipment. They need enough room to maneuver equipment safely and effectively.
