Winter arrived a little early this year, and Bend’s plows, graders and sweepers are ready to push layers of snow off the streets.

Bend’s snow Monday was too thin for the city to deploy plows, but trucks dumped gravel as cold temperatures kept roads slick through the morning.

With more snow in the forecast for this week and beyond, Bend’s plowing priorities are the same as in years past: make sure main routes get cleared before moving to residential areas.

But the upcoming winter is the first in which the city has had the new Transportation Utility Fee at its disposal, bringing minor equipment upgrades as the city looks forward to more plowing investments next winter.

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The city has collected about $1.3 million from the transportation fee since it went into effect July 1, according to a November report from the city’s transportation and mobility department. Except for the 329 people who got low-income exemptions, the fee comes out to $5.60 per month for each residential unit in Bend.

The goal is to collect $5 million in the first year and $10 million in the second year after rates roughly double, should the City Council approve the recommended plan.

Apart from snow removal and winter maintenance, the fee pays for pavement restoration, street preservation, signs, striping, sidewalk and other concrete work, bicycle and pedestrian system enhancement, street sweeping and cleaning.

One goal of the fee is to boost year-round upkeep on key routes — those designed to be easy to travel for bicyclists and pedestrians — as identified in the city’s 2020 Transportation System Plan, said David Abbas, director of the transportation and mobility department.

Aiding in that mission this year are four new pieces of equipment purchased with new transportation fee money: two minisweepers and two compact utility work machines. The nimble equipment can wiggle into protected bike lanes or pedestrian areas to keep them clear where bulkier machines can’t go, such as the redesigned bike lanes on Wilson and Greenwood avenues.

According to the fee report, Bend has about 219 miles of bike facilities, 19 of which are “enhanced.” Nearly 6 miles of enhanced lanes have been built in the past five years.

Plowing priorities

The city sends out snowplows if more than 2 inches of snow falls on the streets. Where they go first is based on a list of priorities selected by the city.

First are major arterial streets with the most traffic that get people to work or school, like downtown, Greenwood, Franklin and Newport avenues, Reed Market and Bear Creek roads, 27th Street and others. Then come connector streets that fill in the gaps and provide access to the major network. Third are residential areas.

City crews are dispatched at 4 a.m. Each priority must be cleared before moving on to the next.

During heavy snow, crews might finish an area only to find another few inches piled up where the plow hit an hour before.

“At that initial day of the storm when it’s snowing hard, we might be on priority ones multiple times, but then the snow lightens up and we can start moving on to priority twos,” Abbas said.

If the snow keeps coming, the city can call a contractor to clear away neighborhood streets as staff are tied up with main roads. A second city street maintenance crew takes over at 11 a.m. to get streets plowed and sanded before the evening commute.

Battling berms

As plows pass in front of houses, they push a berm of snow to the edge of driveways, a common gripe with the city’s plowing tactics.

“We gotta plow the snow somewhere,” Abbas said. “It’s not ideal. We try to be careful and as calm, conscious about it as we can.”

This year, the city has added to its arsenal in the fight against the dreaded berm.

The tool is a snow gate, an attachment giving plow drivers more control over where they push the snow. Drivers can drop the gate to catch the snow expulsion and lift it once they’ve cleared the driveway.

Snow gates will be in action on two of the city’s plows this year. Abbas said the city has seen success with the tool since purchasing one before the 2021-2022 winter.

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The city has about 30 pieces of winter maintenance equipment.

More help ahead

As the funding pot from the new transportation fee grows, the city anticipates another boost to plowing service next year.

The fee will allow the city to hire a new three-member crew dedicated to maintaining specialty paint and striping, like turn arrows, school zone crossings and bike lane paint during the summer.

Come winter, the crew will be dedicated to driving snowplows, shortening the city’s response times for getting streets cleared.