CAPE DEFENDS SNOW CLEANUP

City officials say that despite the numerous complaints they have received about piles of snow and ice blocking driveways the city has done a good job of snow removal.

City workers say that with more than 230 miles of roads to be salted and cleared after every winter storm they have little time to remove the piles built up on the roadside with every pass of the plow.

Tim Gramling, assistant public works director, said workers have done the best job possible in spite of continued bone-chilling temperatures that prevent much of the ice and snow from melting.

"With the conditions we're dealing with, we actually rated pretty high on getting the roads as clean as we did," he said. "I know we didn't get every street in the city 100 percent clear, but that's not a realistic expectation."

With more snow expected in the next few days, city crews have restocked their salt piles and are ready for whatever.

Crews have a plan to deal with snow-covered roads -- plow the busiest and most important roads first.

Gramling said roads with the highest traffic volume and streets near hospitals and schools get priority. Broadway, William, Independence, Lexington, Mount Auburn Road, Bloomfield Road, Sprigg, West End Boulevard, Perryville Road and Cape Rock are priorities.

The busiest secondary streets are tended to second, including Dunklin, parts of Clark, Spanish, Main, Jefferson and parts of Lorimier.

Finally, third-priority streets, which includes dead-end streets, cul-de-sacs and those with the lowest traffic volume, are cleared.

Snow removal idea

"The basic idea is that if we do the streets in front of everybody's houses first, they may be able to get out, but once they get to the main streets, then they won't be as clear or clear at all," Gramling said. "We try to do what benefits the biggest number of people first and work our way down."

Mary Yeager, who lives on Perryville Road, praised crews for an excellent job keeping the lanes of Perryville Road clean, but Sunday, she and her husband noticed three feet of snow and ice had been piled up in front of their driveway, making it potentially difficult to get out.

Tim Dillingham, who lives on Price Drive, said he had no problems with getting around Cape Girardeau last week.

"I think they did a pretty good job," he said.

On Monday, crews began to hit the third-priority streets, many of which have not received direct sunlight and still had ice on them.

By Wednesday, most streets were passable, with at least a foot-wide pile of snow and ice accumulated near the curbs and street edges.

"I know we've hit them all and at least tried to run a blade down them and spread salt," Gramling said. "That's about the limit of what we can do."

Gramling said he understands residents' frustration with the snow-blocked driveways, but added that there really are only two choices.

"When it comes to snow removal, we either do it or we don't," he said. "When you come down a street, it's got to go somewhere and winds up in the driveways."

Gramling estimates that if seven extra crew members and seven additional pieces of equipment spent five minutes on each of the city's 10,000 driveways removing snow, it would take six weeks to complete the task.

"It's not a reasonable expectation," he said. "It's just an unfortunate situation we deal with in these types of storms."