Frequently Asked Questions | City of Eau Claire, Wisconsin

How does the City enforce the snow/ice sidewalk ordinance

Since the 2014-2015 winter, the ordinance will be enforced by a city official leaving a door hanger warning notice at properties that are in violation of City Ordinance Chapter 13.20. The door hanger notice will give the owner or tenant 24 hours to comply with the ordinance. Example of Warning Notice. Upon reinspection by the city official, if the ordinance has not been complied with, the city will have a private contracted company remove the snow or hazardous condition.

How do you decide what streets are on the ice control routes?

Why don’t we plow and salt secondary and residential streets?

Why does the City wait to plow residential streets?

What happens if we receive less than 3-inches of snow during a storm?

All ice control routes (101 miles) are plowed and salted during every measurable snow event regardless of the accumulation. Residential streets that are not salted are only plowed when snow accumulations reach a 3-inch level and the snow has ended or has just about concluded. If the residential streets are not plowed, sand is applied at hills, intersections, and curves to act as an abrasive and assist in braking.

Does the City ever plow residential streets when less than 3-inches of snow falls?

Will the snow plow ever completely clear my residential street down to bare pavement?

What can I do about snow plows that block my driveway with snow?

Why is my street always plowed last?

Why do paths and bike trails get cleared of snow before many streets?

The removal of snow from our many miles of paths and bike trails is performed by personnel from the City Parks Division using smaller equipment than is typically used to plow streets. Paths and bike trails are typically cleaned during regular work hours if possible – and therefore timing of the operations can vary. Paths and bike trails, along with streets, are important parts of the City’s overall transportation network, and many people use the trail network all year.

The designated Wintermission Winter Route is a four-mile section of trail in the heart of Eau Claire that will be plowed with the highest priority of any city trail after a snowfall to give people an opportunity to continue their outdoor recreation habits all winter. A map of the Wintermission Winter Route can be found here: https://www.eauclairewi.gov/recreation/trails/wintermission-winter-route

Why did the truck go by with the plow blade up?

The current truck fleet is equipped with salters/sanders, main plows and wing plows. The salter/sander plow trucks can travel much faster with their blades up. Operators may travel with the plow blade raised for several reasons:

The operator may be headed to a specific area, an accident, or was dispatched to another incident that needs a quick response.
The operators may be going back to the shop for fuel, repairs, or to reload with sand or salt. If they took the extra time to travel with the plow blade down, the plow area or route to which they were assigned would experience a delay in their service.
The operator may be headed to the next assigned location and using a route such as a primary ice control route to travel.

Since the plow is already on my residential street sanding – why not just drop the blade and plow the street at the same time?

The sanding operation consists of one pass down the street to apply abrasive material in spot locations such as intersections, curves, hills, and midblock to assist braking. Plowing of a street takes from 3 to 4 passes by the truck to move the snow to the full width of the street. Plowing the street at the same time sanding occurs would take three to four times longer than the sanding operation. If the street is not plowed full width – a windrow is created a significant distance from the driveway – causing additional work for the resident to clean the end of their driveway. When the snow plow operator comes back at a later time to widen the street to full width, the driveway is then filled with snow again.

Whose responsibility is it to shovel out a fire hydrant or mailbox?

It is the responsibility of the homeowner to clear snow away from mailboxes so that they are accessible to the mail carrier. The City asks property owners to “Adopt a Hydrant” near their property to assist in making fire hydrants accessible during the winter months. The City has over 3,500 hydrants in the water system and the assistance from property owners helps assure quick response by the fire fighters.

How do I report that a snow plow missed my street?