County lists priorities for snow plowing efforts

With Sunday night’s snowfall, Whitman County began snow plowing season for 2018-19, following fits and starts the past three weeks.

The county Public Works department, which handles snow plowing on county roads, has a priority list as follows: First priority is paved roads with the second priority remaining school bus and mail routes. The third priority is other access routes.

Priority two and three (gravel roads) are plowed only in the event of six inches of snow or drifting conditions.

Weekend work applies to snow conditions at the discretion of road district superintendents. The county is divided into three road department districts.

Depending on overnight snow levels, road sanders and graders leave county shops between 5 and 6 a.m. after a storm. As many as 35 vehicles head out to plow, including foremen in pick-ups delivering gas and parts in the event of a breakdown.