Unseasonable Weather: O'Fallon Makes Changes to Snow Removal Policy

Steve Bender, O'Fallon public works director, spoke to the city council recently about the city's snow removal procedures.

Bender decided review snowplowing policy with the public works commission after receiving 250 phone calls after a late-winter storm. The discussion with the commission prompted one major change, having to do with the plowing of cul-de-sacs. 

The city of O'Fallon has 1,100 cul-de-sacs.

"With cul-de-sacs, we're dealing with twice as much snow as on a straightaway, with fewer places to put it," Bender said. He estimated that with it taking 15-plus minutes to do a good job and a full response of 38 drivers, it would take the city seven hours just to plow the cul de sacs.

Accidents occur on the main routes, not on cul de sacs, Bender said. "Our primary responsibility is to provide safe travel on major arterials for emergency vehicles," Bender said. 

Currently the drivers plow to center of cul-de-sacs for up to a three-inch snowfall, which constitute 70 percent of snow events, Bender said. 

A three-inch snow becomes a problem.  

Under the new recommendations, Bender said,  the driver will pull in, dump in a clear green space, then back up and turn around, put his blade down and plow his way out.

The clean up phase would not occur until the main routes are in good shape, Bender said.

"We’ll clean up later,  and try to do it right—not blocking driveways and mailboxes," he said.

When asked why they didn't just continue to plow deeper snows into the center, Bender replied that the city's equipment is not strong enough to plow into the center with deeper snowfalls.