A systematic road clearing process

For most people, several inches of snow means a chance to go outside and play or stay in where it’s warm.

But, that’s not the case for city street crews. These workers head out into the snowy night to clean our streets. Public Service Director, Jay Bennett, said a lot of work goes into planning the best point of attack for winter storms.

“This isn’t their first rodeo, so those guys are really really good,” Bennett said. “The process starts months ago with getting salt on hand, making sure we get the best price available, having the facilities, stockpiling it [and] getting the trucks ready.”

One thing that helps with preparation is the ability of the street department to pull from other areas to get snow off of the roads as quickly as possible.

“We’re pulling resources from wherever because the most pressing need is the streets and getting them passable before the morning rush and then throughout the day.”

Bennett said Mayor Tilton created this strategy of pulling from different departments years ago because he says “we’re the city of Zanesville,” and not just individual departments. That is all in an effort to get snow off the roads in an organized and quick manor. Bennett said they start on the hilly sections of town with plowing and salting and then move to flatter areas before moving on to other, less traveled roads.