With a snow emergency in effect, plow trucks finally attacked snow and ice accumulation on rutted residential side-streets on Tuesday, bringing relief some residents called weeks overdue.

St. Paul Public Works spokeswoman Lisa Hiebert noted: “In St. Paul, we do not plow residential streets unless a snow emergency is declared.”

That said, the city’s three road graders — imagine a farm tractor equipped with a long blade for smoothing road surfaces — had for weeks been slowly slicing through bumpy mounds of ice on side-streets.

It wasn’t until Tuesday morning that the city got its first relatively clear shot at a full snow plow operation since a Thanksgiving-eve storm.

St. Paul Public Works officials on Monday evening announced the second snow emergency of the season, and the ninth one for the calendar year, which is of no help to taxpayers or city coffers.

Typically, the city budgets for four such emergencies annually.

For some homeowners, however, the freedom to navigate was much appreciated. “Way better than last time,” said Magnolia Avenue resident Chris Conrad.

“No complaints, for once,” said Hamline-Midway resident and former mayoral candidate Chris Holbrook.

Way better than last time — Chris Conrad (@PapaCon26) December 31, 2019

BRINE, SALT

Late Sunday night and overnight Monday, St. Paul Public Works sent out roughly 15 trucks to lay down a brine pre-treatment mix on busy “arterial” main streets in advance of the snowfall.

City crews then switched to salt once the snow began. A full snow emergency brings out about 80 city plows.

“We have trucks that put down a brine solution, which is a great way to keep any precip from sticking,” Hiebert said. “As soon as the weather started coming, they started salting.”

That approach has shown visible effectiveness on main streets.

The city, however, does not do the same pre-treatment on residential side-streets, many of which were visibly rutted with icy mounds for weeks prior to Monday’s snowfall.

COMPLICATIONS

That’s partly because the last snow emergency was declared during a heavy snowfall the day before Thanksgiving, when many residents were traveling and unable to move cars to make room for city plows.

In addition, towing in St. Paul remains hit-and-miss, though Public Works officials recently renegotiated two major contracts with the aim of improving tow numbers.

During the Thanksgiving snow emergency, the city ticketed 2,246 vehicles but only 373 vehicles were towed, or fewer than 17 percent. In Minneapolis, it was 23 percent.

Some St. Paul residents last Thanksgiving complained of seeing plows drive up to their streets even before 8 a.m., the deadline for moving cars, and then drive away when it became apparent cars were still there, leaving the street unfinished, if not untouched.

“During the holidays it’s always a challenge for everyone,” Hiebert said. “Tow companies have a lot of other demands. This is why we have a new tow contract, which allows our tow companies to better manage their subcontracts.”

Also complicating matters? Periods of freezing rain since Thanksgiving.

“One of the things that our street maintenance division manager has commented on is what we’re seeing is a lot more fringe events — it’s not just snow, it’s this wintry mix of the rain and the freezing rain and the sleet,” Hiebert said.

Since Thanksgiving, St. Paul Public Works has ran three motor graders in residential streets to break up the snow pack, but progress has been gradual.

“These are extra efforts that we have not done in many many years,” Hiebert said. “It’s a slow process and we have 600 miles of residential streets.”

The city issues snow emergency alerts in four language — English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali — and maintains interactive online maps that show where people can park during the night plow and day plow phases of a snow emergency.

Those features and a phone app can be accessed from StPaul.gov/snow.

Palace by Mattocks is done and it looks FANTASTIC. A+++ to plow drivers and everyone for moving cars. — Kate Baxter-Kauf (@kbaxterk) December 31, 2019

FREE XMAS TREE REMOVAL, TRASH AND RECYCLING DELAYS

In light of road conditions, Eureka Recycling canceled all of its recycling routes in St. Paul last Friday.

Residents on Friday routes may put out additional items this Saturday, Jan. 4 at no extra cost. Eureka is accepting materials in paper bags and boxes next to their carts.

Eureka maintains an online “pick-up calendar” that allows residents to look up their collection status by typing in their address at eurekarecycling.org.

Slick roads on Saturday also caused some trash cancellations.

Residents whose garbage collection was missed last Saturday are advised to put it out this Saturday Jan. 4.

“We’re asking people to please not put out extra materials until their collection day,” Hiebert said. “Garbage should be secured in a plastic bag or they could use a compostable bag.” Related Articles St. Paul council approves mayor’s basic-income project for poor families

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Trash bills will not be discounted as a result of the missed pick-up. But here’s another thing to keep in mind — Christmas trees will be collected at no cost through Jan. 15.

“With the garbage program, people who have a live tree can get it collected at no additional cost between Jan. 2 through Jan. 15,” Hiebert said. “They don’t need to call their garbage hauler.”