Whatcom County has these obstacles to keeping roads clear in a snowstorm
Whatcom County is facing a shortage of snowplow drivers again this winter season, and Public Works Department officials are urging rural residents to stockpile a few days of food and supplies and warning school officials that some roads might not be cleared right away in a major storm.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the time it takes to get a commercial driver’s license and learn to drive a snowplow, Whatcom County has only 27 of the 52 drivers it needs to clear roads adequately, Public Works Director Jon Hutchings said in a letter to schools and other agencies.
“Under the conditions we’re working in these days, our ability to put on a serious snow fight is limited,” Hutchings said at an annual winter weather briefing of emergency-management officials in September.
“We’re more burdened with lack of personnel than last year. But last year we made it through OK,” he said.
When a snowstorm hits, Public Works shifts to 24-hour operations with drivers and other staff working 12-hour shifts to keep the county’s 940 miles of road clear, said Andy Bowler, maintenance and operations superintendent.
“It means we’re going to have a lot less equipment on the roads. It’ll take us longer to get to the secondary roads,” Bowler told The Bellingham Herald.
“We’re doing everything we can to hire for those positions,” but it takes three to six months to train a snowplow driver, he said.
Further complicating the effort to keep roads clear are global supply-chain difficulties that could prevent the county from being able to replenish its stores of sand and salt in the event of prolonged or repeated snowstorms.
“Our salt bunkers are full, but if we run out of salt it’s going to be hard to get more,” he said.
To help rural residents know when they might expect their roads to be plowed, the county maintains a web page, along with an interactive map that shows priority routes for plowing, as well as road closures and construction projects.
That information is updated regularly, but not on a minute-by-minute basis during a weather emergency, Hutchings said.
City of Bellingham
Bellingham, however, isn’t seeing a shortage of snowplow drivers for the upcoming winter and isn’t anticipating shortages of salt and sand for icy roads.
“We have more than enough CDL drivers and equipment operators,” said Public Works spokeswoman Amy Cloud.
“We are fully stocked with salt and sand and are ready for winter’s snow and ice,” Cloud said in an email. “At this point, we do not anticipate any issues with access. Having said that, it certainly depends on the type of winter we have, as well as regional winter events and their duration, as that could impact the availability of product. At this point, we are in great shape and prepared to respond and react to what winter will bring.”
