City of Aspen - Streets

Plowing

The City of Aspen Street Department has developed a snow removal plan using up-to-date equipment and technology to care for the approximately 150 inches of snow that falls on the City streets in an average winter season. Over the years citizens have asked many questions about how the winter snow removal process works in the City. This brochure has been created to help you understand the snow removal operation.

The City of Aspen Street Department's goal is to provide snow and ice control, and to keep the streets clear of dust and gravel in a professional and proactive manner. While we accomplish this without the use of chemicals, the 3/8 inch washed rock we use does eventually break down into smaller pieces. The upside is that the washed rock takes longer to break down than other products used for sanding. This allows us time to remove the remaining sanding product from the streets and in turn helps reduce the amount of dust in the air.

We prioritize the streets according to traffic volumes and public safety requirements, focusing first on bus routes and primary access routes for emergency vehicles. The fleet of snow removal equipment is readied as soon as snow is forecast.

The Street Department staff includes eleven heavy equipment operators regularly scheduled from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Monday through Friday). One winter seasonal person works a swing shift from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. Two other employees regularly work from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., rotating their days off, allowing us to have at least one person working during these hours. This allows for coverage 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. In addition, Street Department personnel are on call 24 hours a day year-round to respond to road conditions.

Streets are plowed with four motor graders, two front-end loaders and two sand trucks with plows. In the downtown core and on Main Street the snow is plowed to the middle of the street whenever we have three inches or more of snowfall in one event. A loader with a snow blower attachment is used to blow the snow into trucks which haul it to our snow storage site located outside of town. The loaders plow the alleys and remove the snow piles from the mall area. Approximately twenty contracted trucks are used when needed for snow removal. Working as quietly as possible during the early morning hours allows us to clear the streets safely and in the shortest time possible, with minimal impact to traffic and residents.

Residential Neighborhoods

For the most part, snow on residential neighborhood streets is plowed half to one side, half to the other side of each street. This is done by circling the blocks, starting in the center of the street with a motor grader with a snow plow wing attachment. We work our way to the sides of the street where we leave the snow in the City right-of-way, which we call our snow storage area. If snow from residential sidewalks, driveways or mailbox areas is put in the street it will be plowed back to the side of the road to remove the safety hazard from the street. Please note that the City is not responsible for snow removal in or around sidewalks, driveways and mailboxes. All snow from private property or adjacent sidewalks should be stored on private property or be put in the snow storage area, located in the first five feet outside the edge of the asphalt or curb and gutter.

We also request your cooperation in our residential neighborhood street cleaning program please avoid parking on specific sides of the street for a portion of one day a week. The street cleaning program facilitates:

Clearing the street of snow and ice without having to tow vehicles
Pushing the snow back to the edge of asphalt or behind the curb and gutter so the streets do not become dangerously narrow
Keeping the curb and gutter areas open, allowing the melting snow to enter the storm drains and flow off the streets
Street sweeping during the spring, summer and fall

We sincerely appreciate your help in keeping our neighborhoods clean and safe. Parking on a different side of the street one morning each week allows the street crews to have clear access to attend to your street. Also note that some areas might not be done every day they are posted because of the size of the town, but as we work through areas we will eventually be able to get to all the locations. Please note the signs posted at the beginning of every block requesting no parking on the following schedule:

Monday: South side of streets 8a.m.-noon
Tuesday: West side of streets 8a.m.-noon
Wednesday: North side of streets 8a.m.-noon
Thursday: East side of streets 8a.m.-noon

Commercial Core

In the commercial core area located from Main to Durant and Original to Aspen Streets, the snow is plowed to the center of the street and then hauled to our snow storage facility. We also plow to the end of each core alley. Please do not place snow from private property or sidewalks in the street or into the snow piles at the end of the alleys. This creates a safety hazard and is in violation of the Municipal Code (Chapter 21.32). Within the City of Aspen, adjacent property owners/tenants are responsible for proper same-day removal of snow from sidewalks, without depositing the snow in the City streets.