City crews are accustomed to plowing tens of thousands of miles of roads, hauling thousands of loads of snow and racking up thousands of hours of labor when winter lands in Durango.
Assistant Public Works Director Joey Medina said crews plowed about 14,550 miles of icy roads in the 2023-24 winter season, spent roughly 1,744 hours on the road and hauled about 1,000 dump truck loads of snow.
“The late 2023, early ’24 season was big,” he said.
This past winter was not.
Medina said crews plowed 5,850 miles of road last winter – less than half the distance plowed the previous season – and hauled only 310 dump truck loads of snow, accumulating 545 hours of labor.
“Unfortunately, we didn't get the snow that we wanted late last year and early this year,” he said. “It's tough when we don't get the moisture. I would prefer we have the snow on the ground.”
The city’s snow removal budget, which covers labor and materials costs, is funded by the general fund. Any unspent funds are returned to the general fund at the end of the year, Medina said.
The city budgets between $815,000 and $960,000 per year for snow removal. But this winter – which spans two budget years – has cost only $306,880, meaning a significant portion of funds from the 2024 and 2025 budgets will be returned to the general fund, assuming November and December do not overwhelm the city with snow.
Mild winters don’t leave crews with nothing to do. Medina said when snow is scarce, crews perform other street maintenance – filling potholes, hauling materials and street sweeping – that is typically put on hold during the winter.
He said crews were able to clean up stormwater drainage sites, snaked cameras through stormwater lines to inspect their condition and kept street sweepers operating longer than usual.
Street sweepers are usually deployed from the last week of March through the last week of October, depending on weather conditions, he said.
Winter didn’t deliver much snow, he said, but it gave street crews a window to catch up on maintenance that often falls by the wayside during heavier winters.
cburney@durangoherald.com
