MARYSVILLE As the flakes fell on Sunday night, city and school district workers were busy clearing the streets and making preparations for the first snowfall of the year.
School was cancelled for most districts in the area, and the Marysville School Districts transportation director was on the road at 1 a.m. Monday morning to assess the hills and valleys of the 11,000-student district. According to Jodi Runyon of the Marysville School District, bus supervisor Joe LeGare will usually confer with his peers in other nearby districts and then consult with the districts own leadership team before a call is made to either close the schools for the day or to run on a late schedule. Even the school board cancelled its Monday night workshop meeting, she added.
The city of Marysville was making plans early on Sunday night, according to Public Works Director Paul Roberts. He noted that because the Puget Sound region gets so little snow most cities dont have a huge amount of dedicated equipment; a small town like Marysville has to put attachments on dump trucks and make the best of it. His department has two 10-cubic-yard dump trucks and one five-yard truck that are adapted for sanding the roads, and one flat bed truck worked by hand, he explained.
A team of about a dozen workers were on the job Sunday afternoon and Monday morning; when it became clear that the citys fleet of garbage trucks would not be able to make their rounds their crews were pressed into service as well. Things get complicated because many of the heavy trucks require drivers with commercial endorsements, meaning planners have to juggle personnel for the right task.
Its always a stretch, because you dont have enough gear to get by, Roberts said. We really dont have all the equipment to do all the residential streets.
Efforts centered on the main thoroughfares such as SR 528, 88th Street NE, 67th Avenue NE and State Avenue. Due to the citys irregular boundaries many local streets are also in Snohomish County, requiring some cooperation and coordination between jurisdictions. Administrators have to sort the streets in a triage, and the main routes come first. Crews try to take the plows and sanders to the hilly areas, but much of the newly annexed areas dont come into city boundaries for another month.
If they are in the city jurisdiction we are doing them, Roberts explained. It stretches us a bit.
As he spoke on Monday it was clear the weather would get colder; like everyone else his department was watching the news to find out the latest. If no more heavy snow falls, he said garbage crews plan to double up and make good on Mondays postponed routes. Pickups will be later in the week than usual, but nobody should have to go a week without pickups, Roberts said, with a hedge toward the weather.
Thats the plan, he said. We will have to double up tomorrow. We will have to work around the weather.
He was busy rotating crews for work and rest and noted the unique nature of the snow equipment. The citys five-yard truck broke down with a failed oil pump early in the day.
When that goes down we lose both a sander and a plow, Roberts said. So we were scrambling.
Drivers can now get real time traffic and weather information from the Washington State Department of Transportation by dialing 5-1-1 from most phones. This new traveler information system builds upon the highly successful Washington State Highway hotline that managed 4.6 million calls each year. Callers can also use 5-1-1 to get statewide construction, mountain pass condition, and state ferry system information, as well as toll free numbers for passenger rail and airlines. TTY users can call 1-800-833-6388.