St. Paul leaders celebrate snow removal, plan future flexibility

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - St. Paul is celebrating its success at speedy snow removal this week – even using "celebrity help" – and using it as a guide for a new approach to winter storms.

They’re using an all-hands-on-deck system now, and that can help a lot with another focus from here on out: flexibility.

Plows hit the road on Monday morning in St. Paul, taking a different approach than in previous years to high snowfall totals. The city didn’t call a snow emergency, so the plows didn’t just clear bigger streets first and hit residential roads after parked cars cleared.

"We were able to clear a drive lane on every street and where we could, we got to the curb where there weren't cars," said St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw.

Kershaw says every storm is different, and this time they focused on clearing the heavy, wet snow as it turned to rain and before temperatures fell back below freezing. Even Mayor Melvin Carter got behind the wheel of a pickup plow to help.

The city trained employees in several departments to use some of the simpler equipment, so Carter and a few department directors joined Kershaw in clearing roads.

"The goal really wasn't that I'm the best plow driver in the world," Kershaw said. "It's that we want to maximize all the resources, all the staff, to get the work done as quickly as we can."

The result was snow removal done 12 to 18 hours earlier than if they’d called a snow emergency. Knowing warmer weather was coming soon also helped, but Carter and Kershaw say they’ll be focused on flexibility moving forward.

"We're going to keep innovating and how we look at snow just to respond, because it's not just changing climate, it's changing resident expectations," Kershaw said. "We know our residents want us to get to them faster."

St. Paul has also been quick to open rec centers, libraries, and city-owned ramps for parking during emergencies, and that’ll also be a priority going forward.