Snowplowing 1,100 miles of county roads
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Heavy snowfalls in the county always significantly increase the number of phone calls to the Commissioner’s Office and the Lake County Road Supervisor’s desk. Callers usually ask questions that have come up numerous times previously, but still need answering. The purpose of this column is to provide answers to some of these reccurring questions, and provide some background information regarding Lake County’s snow plowing capabilities and procedures.
Lake County has nearly 1,100 miles of roads to plow after a snowstorm hits. Nine plow trucks, when all are available, can be utilized to plow. Round Butte Road divides the county into north and south districts and five plows are dedicated to the northern district and the remaining four to the southern district. The three newest trucks are 2006 models and the oldest are 1988 models. At any given time there may be trucks down for repairs and unavailable for use. As the trucks continue to age, breakdowns become more frequent and clearing of the snow takes more time. Typically, it will take county plow crews two or three days to get all of our roads plowed. Hills, curves and intersections will usually be sanded as they are plowed unless heavy snow is still falling.
There are also numerous county roads that do not receive county services such as plowing and grading. As the county grew and increased in population over the years, previous county commissioners determined that if the county continued to add more miles of road each year, the maintenance costs eventually would outgrow the county road budget. So, in 1990 the Lake County Board of Commissioners adopted “Resolution 763” that declared, “Lake County shall not accept any public or private roads for county maintenance, repair or reconstruction which have not been dedicated and/or maintained by the county as of June 1, 1986 …” Adoption of additional roads as county roads was left to the discretion of the commissioners and the commissioners have chosen not to add any new roads. The county also does not maintain roads into subdivisions or tribal housing. Roads in unincorporated townsites such as Arlee, Dayton, Pablo and Charlo are county maintained and do receive county services.
The bullet list below addresses the most common questions frequently asked by county residents regarding county snow plowing:
• How can I find out if my road is a county road? Residents can visit the county plat room in the Clerk and Recorder’s Office in Polson and research whether or not the road they live on is indeed a county road. To answer the question, “Is it maintained by the county?” a phone call to the County Road Supervisor will be necessary.
• The snowplow took out my mailbox; will the county fix or replace it? No. Almost all mailboxes are located in the county right-of-way and are susceptible to damage by snow being pushed off the road. Wet, heavy snows in particular can be damaging. Mailboxes will be replaced if they are physically hit by the department’s snowplows. The county also will not be liable to damage to fences within the county right-of-way.
• Will the county come out and clear away the berm of snow that was left in my driveway after the county plowed the road? Again, the driveway approach is probably in the county right-of-way and residents will have to remove the berm themselves.
• How does the county determine which roads get plowed first? Plow crews try to avoid back tracking whenever possible and attempt to plow roads as efficiently as possible. Crews do begin plowing earlier in the day following a heavy snowfall.
• Why doesn’t the county plow on the weekends? Occasionally the county will plow on weekends after a heavy snowfall. But, overtime costs quickly come into play when employees come in on weekends, and the amount of money budgeted for overtime is limited. Normal plowing will be conducted during daylight hours between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. unless conditions warrant longer shifts.
• How long will it be before the snowplow gets to my road? The answer to this question depends on how many trucks are available to plow and the amount of snow. Some counties have GPS tracking systems in their plow trucks, but the age of Lake County’s trucks and the cost of implementing the GPS tracking does not make it practical for our county. The current routes have changed very little in recent years and what has been observed in the past will likely continue until equipment resources are added to the County fleet.
The Lake County Road Supervisor can be reached at (406) 883-7206 and the County Commissioners at (406) 883-7204.
