City works to keep streets clean after holiday snow storm

NORFOLK, Neb. -- As the northeast Nebraska area is expecting a change in weather, drivers won't have to worry about a grave affect on the roads. 

Streets Manager Will Elwell said that they monitor the weather ahead of time as it can affect when they're able to work. 

The timing of snow is crucial as it played a huge part in the cleanup from the previous storm over the Christmas holiday 

"We got a little bit of snow closer to 4:00 in the morning, had a few guys in running roads to keep them in shape as long as we could; and then we brought the whole crew in at 9:00 and then ran through the day, keeping the mains open, made a trip to the residentials,” said Elwell.

In order to be more efficient with snow cleanup, snow emergencies alerts are sent out ahead of time to give citizens time to adhere by its rules. 

It allows for quicker snowplow times and more space along streets as equipment has gotten bigger. 

"We do our best to get it called earlier enough that if people are out and about when they come home, they know that it's happening, that they can get parked on the right side. They don't have to go back out and do that,” said Elwell. “There's always a few, the police department will start early ahead of us knowing that we've called that and try to get a hold of the residents to just ask them to move them so they don't get towed." 

Time management to make the roads clear is important, as different areas within the city take more or less effort. 

"It depends on if the wind blows. We have a little harder time in some of the areas where they're more open, you know the northwest part of town with it being hilly can be a challenge just the way the snow blows into those,” said Elwell.

The inclement weather during the ever-present fall season causes some worry as to how it will affect the quality of the roads themselves. 

"The freeze thaw cycle is what hurts on that. I mean if it just got cold, to stay cold, it would be one thing, but these temperatures where it's 20 at night and back up to 40/50 during the day definitely plays a big factor in how the potholes hold up and everything else in town,” said Elwell. 

Elwell said they are looking forward to when the weather turns cold and remains that way as it will help the road quality.