Douglas County Reveals the Secret to Successful Snow and Ice Removal…Its Residents

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One of the best kept secrets in the County is the positive outcome of citizen involvement, in addition to the work of County employees, in keeping roads and sidewalks safe during winter weather months. This partnership of shared responsibility between Douglas County and its citizens is among the most important ingredients for road and sidewalk safety success in winter weather months.

Citizen Responsibility – Sidewalk shoveling. Snow and ice can be dangerous for all ages, but especially for children, the elderly and persons with disabilities who are more susceptible to injury. When sidewalks are not cleared of snow and ice, children will often leave the snow and ice covered sidewalks and move in and out of streets and sidewalks on their way to or from school or to and from the bus, which is a safety concern.

For these reasons, property owners in unincorporated Douglas County are required to remove snow and ice from sidewalks surrounding their property within 24 hours after it stops snowing. Citizens are also asked not to place snow from their sidewalk and driveway into the streets or the public right-of-way. This will help reduce the number of icy areas on the street and ensures proper drainage flow into the gutter after a snowstorm. A benefit of placing snow on the lawn rather than in the street will be additional moisture on the lawn for the spring growing season.

Vehicle Removal from Streets: Automobiles and other vehicles left parked on County roads during a winter storm make it difficult for plows to remove snow and ice and may cause vehicles to be surrounded by or even damaged by snow when the plow passes.

County Responsibility – Snow Removal from County Roads: Douglas County works to make roads safer for residents by managing the County in five districts with assigned snowplows and operators for each. Snow removal is prioritized in the following order for all districts: 1) arterial roads that are major roadways with high traffic volumes; 2) collector roadways that distribute traffic between arterial and local roads, and school routes; 3) local roadways; and 4) cul-de-sacs. These roads equate to a total of approximately 2,400 lane miles that Douglas County is responsible for maintaining.

With a large number of roadway miles and a very diverse geographic area to cover, the County decided it was in its best interest to purchase an Automated Vehicle Locator (AVL) system to track snow removal progress and the safety of its 82 snowplow operators. This system allows management and supervisory staff to monitor progress of snow removal operations during snowstorms and to deploy equipment to certain areas of the County, as needed. Equipment and personnel are monitored from the Operations Center or from mobile stations to ensure safety of its operators and proper deployment and accountability of equipment. Equipment can be re-deployed to meet changing weather conditions or moved from one maintenance district to another. This system also enables the most efficient use of equipment when assisting emergency services (ambulances, fire equipment, and law enforcement) during blizzards.

To meet the demands of each district and any emergencies that arise, snow removal equipment and supplies are stored at five facilities around the County: Parker, Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Deckers and one south of Castle Rock near I-25 and Best Road. These locations allow drivers to efficiently replenish supplies and fuel so they can quickly return to their snow route.

For more information on snowplowing, procedures or for a map of the districts, please visit www.douglas.co.us/publicworks/operations/Snow_and_Ice_Removal.html or check out our Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Guide at www.dcsheriff.net/emergencymanagement/Emergency_Preparedness_and_Prevention_Guide.html (page 16 is on Snow and Ice Removal).