Street cleanup?

Have to say that Highway 30 from Columbus to Schuyler was extremely bad yesterday and today. Why weren't the crews out with gravel and sand?

I don't see any gravel or salt at any intersections nor have I seen any trucks out and about! The streets and highways are extremely slick - wondering why nothing has been put on them????

A few of the side streets were slick but a big thankyou to all of the street department and the highway dept for coming out in the bad weather and at all hours of the day and night to keep us safe.

Yesterday, and today Highway 30 from Duncan to Columbus, was the very worst we have seen in the 13 years we have lived in the area. No gravel or sand have been put on the roads at nine in the morning. Why were the crews not out there cleaning, and making the roads safer for all?

shelley must either be a wife of a street cleaner, or she was one of the lucky street cleaners that slept in that morning!! THANKS Shelley

I agree with small shelly its there job, and they did a sub-par job with the entire town.

Our street was cleaned off by 8:30 am that morning! I wasn't expecting it to be done so soon or at all. So thank you to the street crews!

We live just off the blvd. and the street crews were out throwing that de-icer out that night while it was still snowing.

Try to be a little appreciative Columbus! Half of your posts were not even done by the city but by the state!

Anyone else driving west on Highway 30, (Between Schuyler and Columbus) Tuesday afternoon, end up with their car smelling like the back end of a cow? I think a cattle hauler thought the highway was a good place to dump...probably thought they could melt some ice. Car smells...garage smells. Thanks Cargill!!!

Nice job here by the Telegram to fire up the locals again. But to be honest the streets were really slick Tue & Wed seems like they did little to nothing to improve them maybe out of $ for the year ? Hope next year it will improve.

I am pretty sure that the City Snow budget runs Oct 1 - Sept 30. They should have a full budget.

I can live side streets being slick but 12th Ave, 8th St, 18th Ave, and even in front of the Firestation was uncalled for.

The budget thing is a joke most of the time I see the city employees driving around waisting gas. Or four or five vehicles in one spot with only four five workers at the job.theirs entirely to much money waisted driving around doing nothing for hours on end!

To the comments made from my comment. Im neither a wife of the city dept nor did i get to sleep in I just know how to appreciate the work the city does for us. If you have to complain then get out and do it yourself. We all do the best we can.

I drive to Schuyler everyday. I know that the roads are usually better then the Monastary Road. Tuesday was terrible. My husband use to work for the Dept of Roads. I know that if they had put Liquid De-icer on the road with the very very strong winds, the roads would have ice up all over again. So give the Sate and the City a break. They would have to go over the road non stop at the tax payers expense. So you decide what you want! If I could have stayed home I would have. NO job is more important then your life. The employers had better be understanding or be prepared for a lawsuit.

I have a question......Why is liquid de-icer used? Since, clearly it is more dangerous for drivers after it has been put on the roads. Gravel and sand seem to do the job, since it provides traction. Also....just a thought can the road dept leave us a few layers of snow so we are not driving on pure sheets of ice?

I moved from Iowa 2 years ago and this is the worst street cleaning I have ever seen, I used to go to work @ 5:00 a.m. everyday and streets were always passable and icey roads were always salted or sanded especially at intersections this town was barely done at all!!

I NEED A JOB I CAN HELP

Hi Don welcome to the land of the best shovel leaners and practical jokers! To most of the people on this site! the Question is "street clean up". Not Highway clean up. Thats two totally different departments. The State Highway Department does a fantastic job compared to the city street department. Hey Don! Keep your eye out for one of these city workers. the only time you will see them is when their driving around!

Z
They now use a blend of cow manure for a deicer. IT works, but the smell is gross. I have been told they can use that on new concrete and asphalt and it doesn't hurt it like salt does. Don't know how much of that is true, BUT it is being used

Can you lean on a Shovel or drive a truck around all day,if so your hired?

I thought the roads in town were not "taken care of" compared to last year. Some relatives visiting even commented that they were shocked at how our city streets were not taken care of the best. I just hope that the streets are given a little more effort during the snow and ice to come. Or else, we will just have to drive with extra extra caution and hope no one pulls out in front of you or runs into the back of you!

Hey everybody! I Just saw city worker "Driving" by!

Hey Shelly! You obviously don't know any one who works for the city. Or how the city works. Lets say you have a tree in front of your house, and most of its dead. Its constantly dropping limbs on your cars or in your yard or even in the street. The tree is in front of your house but its on city property. Even if you complain to city they won't do anything about it until the entire tree is dead! So you have to clean up limbs and debri for years. Every time the wind blows. So instead of the city trimming the tree thats on their property,you have to do their work for them.It goes on and on this is just one instance. Don't get me started on the street drains!

The Department head of the street department should be ashamed at the lack of planning and effort that went into the snow removal. City of Power and Progress?? Not hardly. Fullerton, Albion both had much better results and those towns have far fewer resources than we do. I was in both towns this week and will say they did a much better job on their city streets. Some accountability is needed to ensure that going forward, we get better results. Mayor Moser are you listening ???

As a former resident of the Black Hills, I honestly have to say the street cleaning here is extremely poor. Up there, it's not uncommon to have 4-6 inches of snow every couple of days, but you know what? They have all their plows out and running 24 hours a day until all roads are clear, and until they stay clear! It's a safety issue- and safety should be taken seriously!!! I was NEVER afraid to drive to work and back home again or even to other towns because the roads were always kept clear of ice and snow no matter where you went, even 1/2 hour away. But here I was scared to drive to work for fear of getting in an accident. I also thought drivers up there were bad, boy was I wrong (but that's another story). So Columbus- WHY can't WE handle the occasional snowfall if others can???

Better Days. Your absolutely right.It starts at the top. Its the same people that let these workers under them get away with all these waisted man hours and gas.Did you know they hire more help in the summer and they make the college kids do thier work for them. HUGH ABRAHAM! a city job is the most sought after job in town. If you wanted a perminant job there you would have to kill somebody. rarely does anybody get laidoff, fired,or quit.Because its the sweetest job around. We need to start cleaning House and it starts at the TOP!

You are all lucky you do not live in Europe. There the plows wait till the snow stops completely before the start to work. If you have to be somewhere before that, then you better have snow tire.

My wife and I drive in from Schuyler every day.Monday was the worst ever for us.Usually there is a good response to icy conditions on the highway,but Monday and Tuesday were horrible.We did not see any maintainers East nor West in from Schuyler. Maybe deicer was put down earlier and it froze on the road.There were numerous vehicles off the road way and also later in the morning a semi over turned at the Richland curves.

I hvae to say they did a very poor job and that is why i got in to a wreck on 8th street and 26 ave. also was talking to the officer and see 3 more in about 5 min due to the ice. she evan said she has called the street dept 4or5 time to tell them to clean it up and nothing was done. so that is why i go out and celan my side of the street my self so i dont have this problem. GUESS I SHOULD SEND THE CITY MY BILL FOR STREET CLEANING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To citizen,
Rules are rules,(some of them stink) thats the way it is. If you dont like it cut it down yourself. People that want the govt to do everything for them make me sick.

I do know if someone ran for mayor or city council just on the premise that they would make sure we had good snow removal, the would be elected. Columbus doesn't want to have money in there budget for salt, and gravel, because it would mean that they would have to have people out there spreading it. I think it is harder for the people who just move because they are use to people actually doing something about snow removal.

To McLoven,
You're right they do hire summer help as do alot of other factories and business' to do odd jobs to free up time so your trained employees can do their assigned duties.
You're also right about it being the sweetest job in town. Nothing better than cutting down a tree filled with poisen ivy when its 110 outside, or blowing snow in frankfurt square when its 50 below wind chill, because someone might want to go for a walk. I forgot about cleaning catch basins during a thunderstorm so your home doesnt flood, that would probably be the city's fault as well. If you take break at a convience store citizens think you're screwing off, If you go to the shop you get accused of driving around and wasting gas. Go figure. As for snow removal they do the best they can. There are many factors involved for snow removal Time, temp, ice, expected length of storm, just to name a few. I've also seen drivers try to sqeeze in between snow plows while they are plowing the highways, if the snowplow driver hits them its probably the city's fault too ( I think the city only goes out to E 20 st by flexcon) all because they might be late for work because they didnt think to leave 30 min early. During those bad snow storms nothing like getting 30 hrs of overtime.
I think I'll keep my job where the temp is somewhat controlled and I dont have to deal with the elements or citizens that think that your not doing your job the way that all you so called experts think it should be done.

To N. the city won't let you cut it down because its on their property!By the way its never been 50 below wind chill and its never been 110!And aparently you don't know any one who works for the city either. They'll be the first one to tell you they do as little as possible. Or you work for the city. their the only ones who use the fraise catch basins.

Mcloven,
You must not have lived here very long, it has reached both sides of those temps. I don't work for the city but I do know plenty of the guys that do. There are a few that probably do there best to get out of there assigned details. Maybe those skaters are the ones you know. I'm sure you have some of those where you work as well. Sounds like you might even be one of them. The guys I know are hard workers and would never say that even if it were true. I know a lot of people that use the phrase or as you say "fraise" catch basin. I began calling them that when I was in the military, maybe that's why you never heard of anyone else calling them that.
To citizen,
All you have to do is get a permit to cut down the tree and then plant another one and it doesn't need to be on city property either, or pay the forestry service a fee of $75.