As the city prepares for snow removal efforts ahead of this winter, snow plow drivers are learning to navigate a new obstacle: all the new traffic-calming infrastructure.
“We’re gonna hit a lot of concrete,” Streets Department Commissioner Kent Flake tells SLM. He stresses that all the new bumpouts and islands are great for slowing traffic and making streets safer, but they can make life difficult for people doing snow removal if the city gets hit with a big snow storm. Not helping is the fact that a lot of the “delineators” rising out of the concrete to signal a piece of infrastructure are themselves white.
Even plowing under the best of circumstances, Flake says, some of those delineators are going to get knocked down. The Streets Department is ordering new ones to have on hand to replace them quickly when that happens…