In preparation for potential inclement winter weather conditions, the City of Yelm’s Public Works Department is gearing up by adding an additional anti-ice truck and an updated map listing roads by priority for de-icing and snow removal.
Dean Norton, Yelm Public Service Department operations manager, briefed Yelm city councilors during a council meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, about what the winter weather preparation plan will look like this season. He said notably, the department has increased its number of anti-ice trucks from one to two. The department will also have a salt or sand truck and two plow trucks.
“We’re trying to beef that up a little bit to get some more roads done,” Norton said. “Not a lot is changing. We’re adding a little bit, but we still have the people to cover it and get it done. The plowing obviously will be done with 3 inches or more. We would like to be more proactive this year and put down anti-icer as we see a weather event coming. I know that’s a lot easier said than done, especially in Washington. We won’t be able to always put down the anti-icer before a weather event because of the rain and the wet pavement.”
Norton said liquid anti-icer will be placed on to roads by the city during dry conditions this winter, as rain will wash away the salt brine solution.
“We’d like to put it down when the pavement is dry and there’s no rain in the forecast,” Norton said. “A little bit of rain isn’t going to wash it all away, but a pretty good downpour, which we get here a lot, would [undo] all of that salt brine we put down and all of the time we spent doing it.”
Councilor Joshua Crossman asked Norton if the intersection at Grove Road and 103rd Street Southeast would get special attention due to the high volume of traffic and potentially hazardous conditions drivers may experience. Norton said the route map for road treatment was recently reorganized, and that specific intersection would be getting more attention than it has before. He said 103rd Street Southeast was “very tough” to navigate last winter.
“I do realize and understand that some of that section on 103rd is county, but [Public Works Director] Cody [Colt] and I have talked about this,” Norton said. “We’re willing to go ahead and get it done because it does affect the residents of the city of Yelm more so than it does anybody else. I can’t imagine the county is going to come out here and do that either.”
Councilor Terry Kaminski asked whether the Public Works Department would treat neighborhood streets once the main roads are finished being treated. Norton said it would, adding that Yelm’s roads are listed by priority. Priority one roads include “major roads within the city,” while level three roads are residential. Norton said it may take time for the department to reach neighborhoods as priority one roads need to be maintained thoroughly.
Councilor Trevor Palmer asked Norton how many days the department has budgeted for use of the de-icer, to which Norton said it took between 275 to 400 gallons to spray the streets they serviced last winter.
“After the rework of the actual map, it will take a little more than that,” Norton said. “You’ll see later on at another meeting where I bring an [interlocal agreement] to purchase anti-icing material from the county, which is much cheaper. We will be able to buy more of it.”
Yelm’s Police Chief Rob Carlson added that the Yelm Police Department will continue business as normal, even if there’s winter weather storms. He said the department’s vehicles are all-terrain, and the department also has an additional four-wheel drive police cruiser.
Carlson said YPD has never had an issue with its cars working through snow and ice storms.
“If the weather starts to go bad at night or on the weekends, we notify Public Works and let them know what the conditions are like,” Carlson said. “They can come out and take care of it as they see fit. If we have a predicted major storm, whether it’s snow, ice or wind, myself and the city leadership will get together to come up with a plan. We’ll try to go forward with that plan, in regards to what we see, and our officers will be notified about that plan. Public Works will also be notified because they’ll be involved.”
He said, in the event of a major ice storm like in 2012 in which some Nisqually Valley residents lost power for a week, an emergency operation center would be activated in conjunction with Thurston County Emergency Management.
