This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aim to inform readers across the state.
It’s been 329 days since an inch of snow fell on Salt Lake City. While the snow drought has meant trouble for Utah’s water supply and ski resorts, it’s made things a lot easier for the city crews tasked with plowing snow.
Shane Winters, public services director for the city of Provo, oversees the stormwater and streets departments. When it snows, division workers typically plow nine routes of about 100 miles each.
It’s “all hands on deck,” said Winters, who gets plenty of jokes about his last name.
This season, though, crews have only gone out once.
“We didn’t have to really do any plowing,” Winters said. “We put some salt, some minor salt down, up on the benches, and that is all we have done this winter.”
That doesn’t mean his crews are idle. Winters said there’s no shortage of maintenance projects. Instead of plowing snow, Provo crews have been cleaning pipes, sweeping streets and fixing and installing signs.
Read more at kuer.org.
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