Snow clearing equipment remained on the job across Naperville Monday morning, after record-breaking snow totals hit the city.
Crews were returning to neighborhoods to clear the additional several inches that fell Sunday night and Monday morning and were expected to be at it through the day. According to the city, about 16 inches piled up between Saturday night and Monday morning.
Nearly 80 percent of the 75 plows at work during and after the storm were from outside contractors hired to help when there is a major snowfall. Of those on the city payroll, 22 drivers were regular Public Works employees and another dozen were temporary plow drivers who work in other city departments and applied to provide extra help during big storms.
In addition to clearing the roads, the trucks were laying down plenty of de-icing salt. Kate Schultz, communications specialist for the city, said about 1,000 tons of salt would be scattered on city roadways by the time the response was completed.
It’s too soon to tell, Schultz said, how the municipal demands posed by the storm will translate to overtime expenses. Last winter’s unusually harsh weather cost the city about $853,000 in staff overtime.
Although the city’s 1,200 cul-de-sacs were cleared Sunday, the process was to be repeated at most of those locations Monday. Plows focus on the neighborhood courts after they have attended to major roadways. The city was asking residents to be patient if the road out front remains impassable.
“Due to the heavy, wet snow experienced during the first hours of this storm, plowing cul-de-sacs took a considerable amount of time throughout this winter weather event,” noted a news release from the city. “In addition, cul-de-sacs may have large snow piles in them, as there is limited space to place the snow without creating unsafe conditions for motorists or blocking driveways.”
The release also reminded residents to remove their vehicles from the streets if possible, to allow plow drivers access to the drifts, and said the drivers do their best to avoid blocking the ends of residents’ driveways with banks of snow, but can’t always avoid it.
Garbage collection for those who receive the service on Mondays was postponed a day because of the heavy snowfall, and the schedule for the rest of the week was moved back by one day as well.
As of about 7 a.m. Monday, O’Hare International Airport had a total of 19.3 inches of snow, making it the fifth-largest multiday storm on record, according to the National Weather Service. Midway Airport recorded 18.4 inches at midnight Sunday.
Sunday, which saw a total of 16.2 inches of snowfall, is officially the snowiest February day in the history of Chicago and the fourth-snowiest calendar day ever, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Gino Izzi. The city has seen more snow so far in February than it typically records from February through April, Izzi said.
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Coupled with drifting snow and wind gusts of up to 45 mph, the storm made for a rough morning commute, though Metra vowed they would be largely on schedule.
Metra’s vow was tested early, and some morning delays ended up stretching past 30 minutes. Many of the agency’s 11 lines experienced delays of some sort.
Traffic on the transit agency’s busiest line, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe, was being fouled early Monday by an inbound train stopped with mechanical problems near Hinsdale. At least four other trains were stopped behind it at one point, the agency said. In addition, the agency said one outbound BNSF train would not go beyond Lisle because of weather conditions and another was canceled. The agency said delays could reach 50 minutes.
An interactive map set up by Naperville illustrating the plowing crews’ locations and progress can be found at gis.naperville.il.us/mashups/snowroutes/.
Contributing: baiduhai reporters Quinn Ford and Peter Nickeas