Snow bills accumulate

Published 9:46 pm Saturday, March 15, 2014

The costs for taking care of the city’s roads after winter storms continue to pile up, but it’s a safe bet leaders are hoping they’ve reached the end of the tally for this year.

Sleet and snow on March 3 cost the city nearly $149,000, according to city spokeswoman Diana Klink. That included $14,819 in overtime, $55,000 in materials and $60,000 in equipment, as well as $20,000 in regular labor costs.

Those costs are added to the running tally for this year’s four snowstorms, which also included about $288,000 for the biggest one on Jan. 29.

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The most recent storm also brought another round of complaints from local citizens about road conditions in the city the day after the storm.

Facebook users said Bridge Road and Godwin Boulevard, along with Nansemond Parkway and others, were treacherous as of the Tuesday morning after the storm.

Klink said both Bridge Road and Godwin Boulevard received treatment both before and after the snow, along with other primary roadways in the city. Major bridges on both primary and secondary roads have treatment priority, followed by primary roadways and major secondary roadways.

All primary roadways were pre-treated with a brine solution before 10 a.m. the Monday of the storm, she said. The process began in the early afternoon on Sunday.

After precipitation began to fall, salt and sand were added to the roads.

“Crews worked through the day and into the night and the next morning clearing snow and spreading additional salt and sand on all of the primary roadways, including Route 10 and Route 17,” she said.