Street snow plowing

[paul253]

I’m sorry if this was brought up in another thread but I wanted to get some opinions on this topic:

With the latest snowstorm came the usual street plowing. As with the usual street plowing came the issue I want to ask peoples opinions on. And that is the inevitable plowing in of peoples driveways.
 

I try really, really hard to not get upset about it because I realize that, for one, there aren’t many viable solutions, and two, it’s not really the plow drivers fault per se. But man, after spending 30-40 minutes snow blowing and shoveling on Friday night, I came back out Saturday morning to kind of clean up my driveway and front walk again since it had still been snowing when I last shoveled. I knew my driveway would be plowed in but I was so pissed when I saw how bad it was. 
 

I went outside at about 8:30am. I had plans to leave to take my kids to a friends birthday party at 9:40. There must have been 3-4 feet of snow and ice piled up at the edge of my driveway. The same area I had just cleared the night before. I shoveled my actual driveway in about 20 minutes but the edge of my driveway took me about 45 minutes just to get it wide enough so I I could my car out. I couldn’t even shovel it at first. I was literally picking up big snow boulders and chunks of ice and throwing them off to the side for about 15-20 minutes before I could start digging out. I was late getting my kids to their party and I had to finish when I got home.  
 

like I said I don’t know if there even is a viable solution but I’m lucky I’m still young enough where I can still clear this. I’ve seen posts from elderly people who don’t have the ability to clear their driveway when it gets plowed in like this. Unless you have a huge snowblower or a plow of your own you pretty much have to do it with a shovel.  And had there been an emergency I literally would not have been able to get my car out of the driveway. 
 

Are there any plow drivers that can comment? I know the plow is angled to push the snow off to the side. Can they not angle it straight when approaching a driveway and push the snow past the driveway instead of directly into it?  Am I just being a complainer who should just be happy the streets are even being plowed?

[nate82]

1 hour ago, paul253 said:

Can they not angle it straight when approaching a driveway and push the snow past the driveway instead of directly into it?  Am I just being a complainer who should just be happy the streets are even being plowed?

I believe it is more of an efficiency thing if I am remembering what my friend told me when he did this.  If you live in place where there are houses closely packed together or even loosely packed together the driver would have to do this for every driveway and then possibly have to come down your road 2-4 more times than they normally would have to.  Ideally I think the city, county and state only want the driver to go down a street twice.  Once on one side and another on the other side.

I bet if you lived on a dead end street where they could pile up the snow they wouldn't use an angle.  As the snow could then be piled up at the dead end.  Though this makes it more dangerous for the driver as they will need to be able to backup and then maneuver out of the dead end.  Then you have to deal with the people living there being impatient that they can't get out of their driveway because the truck is backing up and maneuvering out of the dead end.  Though this is usually done with a smaller vehicle or not at all. 

So your driveway gets blocked because it is easier and more efficient for the driver to move the snow like this.  If the driver did this with a straight angle they would have to dump the snow somewhere.  And since they can't just dump it in the middle of an intersection it goes instead into the side of the road which means it goes into your driveway.  Also I believe angled is better for the roads which means less repairs in the spring, summer and fall. 

If you really hate it move to a state that doesn't have snow. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

If plow drivers would have to do this and not angle their blade every time they got to a driveway while making sure to not push snow into the other lane (and into oncoming traffic), then it would take them so long to get roads done people would have to drive on unplowed roads constantly.  If plows don't get fresh snow off roads quickly before too much traffic gets on it, particularly on side streets, driving becomes a nightmare.

My home here in MN is on a hill, so I have to keep my steep driveway clear as much as possible if I have any hope to get my minivan or small SUV up it and into the garage each trip.  So, during bigger snows I try to do what I can initially to make my driveway usable to get cars in the garage for the night, then I put the shovel away and wait until I hear the plow roll through early the next morning - and quickly get down to where they push my driveway shut to clear that out before the slush/disturbed snow solidifies.  If you let that stuff sit even for an hour, it's like concrete - especially in really cold temps.

My advice would be to try and time it as best you could to leave the bottom of the driveway untouched until the plows roll through, so you only have to shovel it once - and do it quickly.  Or, make friends with a retired guy on your block with a shiny new snowblower and he'll bail you out a time or two!

[jerichoholicninja]

The exact reason I wait as long as possible to clean out my driveway. I also clean the street up to the curb about 20 feet up the road from my driveway so there's a place for the snow to go off the plow before it gets to my driveway. If you have a snowblower this isn't that much extra work. If you don't, you're kind of screwed.

[TURBO]

2 hours ago, jerichoholicninja said:

The exact reason I wait as long as possible to clean out my driveway. I also clean the street up to the curb about 20 feet up the road from my driveway so there's a place for the snow to go off the plow before it gets to my driveway. If you have a snowblower this isn't that much extra work. If you don't, you're kind of screwed.

Yup, I do the same.  Looking at my house (on the right side of my driveway), I do 20 to 30 feet of the street/curb, so when the plow comes, it has a place before my driveway to dump SOME of the snow before filling in my driveway.  This doesn't solve the problem, but it surely lessons it.

[young guns]

I have seen 2 potential solutions to this on fb.  First, which is out of your control most likely, is there are plows that come with an arm the can drop to cover the side when the plow comes to a driveway.  They cost more so good luck trying to convince your city to buy them.

 

Second is clear a space right before your driveway and the theory is that the plow will sorta empty into that space before getting to your driveway thus reducing the amount that ends up in your driveway, but I'm skeptical of the efficacy especially depending on the width of your street and other factors.

[TURBO]

[NeedMoreFans]

While we're on the topic of snowplowing, this could very easily be a "bugging you" post, but it fits here better.  Let's discuss Madison.  I do not live in Madison, I live in Middleton.  My street has 10 houses on it, and it's in better shape than Gammon Rd, Mineral Point, and most of University Ave.  I keep hearing, "salt doesn't work when it's cold!" but then I look at what other communities do, and clearly they are doing something right that Madison just can't figure out.  Driving down Gammon from Middleton to Madison you can see a clear line where Middleton stops clearing the street and Madison begins.  Madison has cut down on salt usage due to the lakes, but they also haven't added plows to keep up with new miles of roads built over the past 20+ years.  It took nearly twice as long to get home tonight due to the road conditions, and it snowed three days ago.  

[Outlander]

I live in the Madison area now as well. They are horrible, maybe not much they could have done with the drastic change in weather but pretty much every side street is bad. I have tried to stay on the highway as much as possible because those are clean. I did drive some roads in Verona and those were much better, not sure if they salt there.

[CheezWizHed]

I live in the country so there are fewer driveways per mile/block/cm/(insert your favorite measure of distance).  So out here, I have seen them angle the plow to dump less snow (sometimes).  But I can't imagine that would work in a city block area with a driveway every 50 feet. 

But yes, the "clean the snow to the left of your driveway" will always work no matter what the snowplow will do:

1. There is less snow to be dumped into your driveway.  The plow isn't adding snow just before it gets to you. 
2. A sudden vacancy of snow will allow the plow to dump more snow there before it gets to your driveway. Thus the plow will have less snow for both reasons.
3. I think once the driver sees that (at least in the country), s/he is more apt to angle the plow straight simply because they don't have a full load of snow.  That allows them to straighten the plow without dumping snow to the left. 

Otherwise, I suppose you could donate all those little arms on the side of the plows. The only other way... pay someone to come clean you out or live where there isn't snow. 😅

 

[stoutdude04]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:03 PM, NeedMoreFans said:

While we're on the topic of snowplowing, this could very easily be a "bugging you" post, but it fits here better.  Let's discuss Madison.  I do not live in Madison, I live in Middleton.  My street has 10 houses on it, and it's in better shape than Gammon Rd, Mineral Point, and most of University Ave.  I keep hearing, "salt doesn't work when it's cold!" but then I look at what other communities do, and clearly they are doing something right that Madison just can't figure out.  Driving down Gammon from Middleton to Madison you can see a clear line where Middleton stops clearing the street and Madison begins.  Madison has cut down on salt usage due to the lakes, but they also haven't added plows to keep up with new miles of roads built over the past 20+ years.  It took nearly twice as long to get home tonight due to the road conditions, and it snowed three days ago.  

Drove home from the hockey game on Saturday...and yea, those were some of the worst roads ive driven on in quite some time.  Even East Wash was terrible.

[Samurai Bucky]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:28 AM, stoutdude04 said:

Drove home from the hockey game on Saturday...and yea, those were some of the worst roads ive driven on in quite some time.  Even East Wash was terrible.

I have a feeling the conditions of the roads in Milwaukee is comparable.  ☹️

[homer]

18 minutes ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I have a feeling the conditions of the roads in Milwaukee is comparable.  ☹️

I haven't noticed. I don't drive a whole lot but my neighborhood in MKE seems fine.