Less Snow, More Help Paid Off For The City Of Tulsa

Emory Bryan, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma -- There's been no time off for the people trying to clear the streets here in Tulsa, which didn't have nearly as much snow as the outlying counties to the east.

After the 14 inches of snow February 1, it took a full week to get the main roads really clear. But, this time things have gone much faster.

There was less snow and more help in the equation during this week's storm, and it's paid off. Some main roads already have sections with almost bare pavement.

Tulsa's main streets are in a single day of plowing already in much better shape than after days of work in the last storm.

The snow was drier and lighter this time, and with less wind there wasn't as much drifting. But this time the city also had salt on the streets before the storm to speed up the meltdown.

And early in Wednesday's snowfall, private contractors were out with road graders and loaders moving snow, a significant increase in the resources out on the streets.

The contractors added to the work done by city employees in plowing the snow.

In the last 8 days, City snow plows have gone over 47,000 miles of streets. They've spread 3,700 tons of salt over 28,000 miles. That's taken 13,500 hours of work to accomplish.

It's also been a week of constant work for James Larsen, who has been clearing parking lots.

Just about anyone with a snow shovel can find work these days and for this three man crew of homebuilders, it's money in the bank when they otherwise wouldn't be working.

It was a hard day picking up trash.

City of Tulsa trash service continued despite the fresh snowfall, and though some customers were missed, they'll keep working the routes to get caught up.

There were not nearly as many of the problems as during the last storm, when police cars were spinning their tires, and ambulances had to be towed to the hospital.

02/01/2011 Related Story: Emergency Responders Battle Road Conditions In Tulsa-Area

And Tulsa Transit buses are running limited routes, rebuilding from the standstill of operations last week.

We continue to see snow plows and salt spreaders out and the city says they still have several days of work ahead to clear away this now third wave of snow in 10 days.