ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A wheelchair user traveling alongside traffic earlier this month due to sidewalks still full of snow has prompted Anchorage officials to clarify snowplowing policies and answer for who is responsible for keeping walkways clear after snowstorms.
Mat-Su resident Alan Larson submitted the photo to Alaska’s News Source on the morning of Nov. 11 after Anchorage saw snowfall between Nov. 6 and 7. It shows a person in a motorized wheelchair traveling alongside busy Dowling Road not too far from the Seward Highway.
“Our Maintenance & Operations crews work to keep sidewalks as clear as possible throughout the winter,” said Justin Shelby, Alaska Department of Transportation administrative operations manager. “Our goal is to clear sidewalks within two to four days following each snowfall event. We do have contract sidewalk-plowing available when the nature or amount of snowfall prevents us from moving through our inventory as quickly as needed.”
Shelby said that based on the photo, it’s unclear as to how many passes DOT crews would have made at that point, but said in general, the public should be prepared for snow to still be on sidewalks during the plowing process, especially for areas that are deemed to be more difficult…