Salt ready for when snow hits Seattle streets

On 42 nights last winter, Seattle road workers sprinkled salt solution over streets and bridges to fend off ice, but a huge snowstorm never struck the city.

The forecast is more daunting this winter. A La Niña system is on the way, and colder-than-normal ocean temperatures will increase the odds of large snowstorms.

Seattle and King County Metro Transit managers remember that just two years ago they were stymied by a mid-December freezeover, which left some streets impassable for days.

The city wrote a completely new winter-response plan in 2009 to emphasize salt, instead of sand. That plan could get its first real test this winter.

Piles of coarse salt from British Columbia sit at three maintenance yards, waiting to be scattered over the fallen snow.

Metro will provide e-mail, Twitter and cellphone alerts, along with plans to cut buses back to only the most crucial routes.

The important thing to know is plows can't be everywhere, given the city's hills and tight side streets. Snow would be removed mainly where Metro buses travel (with certain steep exceptions such as Queen Anne Avenue North), and major highways.

New this year, Seattle promises to clear 1,250 major staircases, sidewalks and crosswalks where people would walk to transit stops instead of driving.

Also, snowplows will direct snow toward the curb, instead of toward the centerline. The change should help Metro buses turn more easily, city supervisors say. And if snow piles are closer to street drains, there's less chance snow will melt and refreeze in the lanes of travel.

The man in charge also has changed. Monty Sedlak was hired away from Colorado in 2009, with some fanfare, but quietly left the Seattle post a month ago. "I got homesick. My wife and I decided for personal and family reasons to move back to Colorado," he said Tuesday.

His replacement, Steve Pratt, worked several years as road-maintenance director for Snohomish County. He's got plenty of experience taming wet Puget Sound snow, says his boss, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Peter Hahn.

Salt solution

When the forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of snow, city workers would apply a salt solution in advance, using four trucks equipped with tanks. There now are 46,000 gallons on hand, enough to handle a four- to five-day storm response, SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan said.

The former administration packed the snow and applied sand over the top for traction — citing a need to prevent salt runoff into Puget Sound. The current mayor, Mike McGinn, said Tuesday that salt is more environmentally benign because it avoids clogging drains and won't need to be swept off the street later.

If rain precedes the snow, or snow needs to be melted, the heavy, orange-colored B.C. salt would be applied.

Plowing would be based on three service levels:

• Level 1, arterials and highways where all lanes would be "bare and wet," such as Lake City Way Northeast. Certain mainlines such as Rainier Avenue South will be plowed in tandem, where the inside plow pushes snow aside, and the plow on the right knocks it to curbside. This will force some drivers to dig out their parked cars, Sheridan said.

• Level 2, streets to be cleared in one lane each direction, for instance North 50th Street;

• Level 3, to be cleared or treated on curves, slopes and stopping zones, such as 16th Avenue Southwest near South Seattle Community College.

There are 30 plows available, attached to street-maintenance trucks that fix potholes in the summer. Those include two small vehicles added after 2008, to plow narrower roadways. Sand would be dumped sporadically to boost traction on hills, Pratt said.

The city spent $3 million in 2009 for snow, ice and landslides combined, caused by extreme weather in late 2008. The 2010 budget provided only $654,000, while the proposed 2011 level is $1.6 million. McGinn called that "truth in budgeting," saying in the past, winter-weather expenses were paid later as emergency spending.

New plan

In the 2008 storm, scores of Metro buses became stuck — often articulated buses that slid sideways, and electric trolley buses in the city were unable to pass other vehicles, while tethered to overhead power lines. Riders received very little information about their routes.

The new plan would reduce service, usually more than 250 routes, to about 70 core routes that can be operated more reliably, but that would happen only in the event of severe or prolonged ice on streets. Then only shorter buses would run. Second, the agency is urging people to sign up for its Transit Alerts, on their computers and phones. More than 10,000 people have subscribed and Metro is trying to double that figure. Metro can't provide real-time arrival information yet but can tell users whether their route is being disrupted.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com