Looks like it is going to be a slippery weekend in Sioux Falls
l3wis With more snow coming this weekend and bitter cold temps, our street department will be busy. I know the city crews have been working their tales off with little time off.
So a friend said to me recently, “Have you noticed that some of the salt trucks put out very little salt while some just blowout too much?”
I told him I have noticed that in the past but I am assuming even if they have settings on the salt devices they tend to malfunction A LOT! A city plow driver told me that years ago and I guess I have never forgotten.
So this same friend likes to snoop around city properties to see what’s up. He travels around town a lot because of his work so he will drive by city properties to inspect*. I have been doing it for years on my bike downtown. So today he says to me. “I wonder if the city is going to have enough salt this winter or even for this weekend?”
I asked him why. He said, “I drove by the salt dome at the public works lot on North Cliff earlier this week and it was very, very, low.” With all the weather reports warning us of the possibility of a lot of precip this winter the city should have stocked up on salt, especially with $80 million in reserves I think we can afford to buy a little extra. You know, that natural occurring mineral from the earth that can be stored at no cost for decades? We just spent $1 million for new police radios that have better technology to keep the public safer. Keeping our roads passable is one of the MOST important public safety measures. BUY MORE SALT!!!!!!
*Believe me or not, I get a lot of my tips from just snooping around city projects. I never enter an active construction site because that is stupid and dangerous and I have no doubt I am on camera. That’s how the cops caught be running a stop sign on my bike DTSF and didn’t pull me over for 5 blocks. Why, because they caught me on camera (I do run stop signs, but I always slow and yield all directions and their wasn’t a car for blocks when I ran the sign). So yes, if you want to be snoopy like me, that’s cool, but be aware you are being watched.
