Snow and Ice Control
The Gurnee Public Works Department is responsible for the Village’s snow and ice control operations on 243 centerline miles of public streets and 350 cul-de-sac and dead end streets within the corporate limits of the Village. The Public Works Department operates under the guidance of the 2023-2024 Snow and Ice Control Plan, which establishes control methods and procedures for winter weather events designed to reduce threats to public safety and the traveling public. The procedures established provide details pertaining to the personnel, equipment and materials to be used on the Village’s 11 designated plow routes during SIC operations. View a map of the Village's snow routes.
Salting operations typically begin as streets become slippery, while snowplowing operations commence when more than one (1) inch of snow has accumulated on Village streets. SIC operations are conducted simultaneously on all of Village’s 11 plow routes to ensure uniform coverage of critical areas such as main arterial roads, intersections, curves, hills, and school zones. During an average 4” snowfall a single pass is designed to take between 4-6 hours but the intensity and duration of a storm can drastically affect response times.
Salt use is minimized for environmental benefits and to reduce the impact on the local watershed. Public Works utilizes liquid ice melting chemicals to pre-treat granular salt before spreading it on the roadway. Pre-wetting the salt helps reduce scattering off the target roadway, increases the effectiveness of salt at lower temperatures, and provides the necessary moisture speed up the ice melting process.
Snow and Ice Control Program
The Gurnee Public Works Department is responsible for the Village’s snow and ice control operations on 243 centerline miles of public streets and 350 cul-de-sac and dead end streets within the corporate limits of the Village. The Village is divided into 11 snow routes. Each route is assigned a large truck, which is responsible for the plowing and salting of the primary and secondary roads, and a small truck, which handles the cul-de-sac and dead end streets. View a map of the Village's snow routes.
The Village does not maintain any roads that fall under the jurisdiction of other agencies. Route 132 (Grand Avenue), Route 21 (Milwaukee Avenue), Route 41, Route 45 and Route 120 (Belvidere Road) are maintained by the Illinois Department of Transportation (847-244-0034). Hunt Club Road, Washington Street, O'Plaine Road, Gages Lake Road, Stearns School Road east of Dilleys Road, Dilleys Road north of Route 132, Greenleaf Street south of Washington Street and Delany Road north of Route 41 are maintained by the Lake County Division of Transportation (847-362-3950).
Salting operations begin as soon as streets become slippery, while snowplowing operations commence when more than one (1) inch of snow has accumulated on Village streets. All of the Village’s 11 main routes are salted and plowed simultaneously to ensure coverage of critical areas such as main arterial roads, intersections, curves, hills, and school zones. Salt use is minimized for environmental benefits and to reduce the impact on the watershed and other areas that receive storm water runoff.
Public Works utilizes liquid ice melting chemicals for anti-icing and pre-wetting operations. Anti-icing is the application of a liquid blend of salt brine, sugar beet molasses, magnesium chloride, and calcium chloride on selected pavements before a snow or ice event. Anti-icing is intended to disrupt the bond that forms between ice particles and the pavement surface; this allows more response time to snow events and reduces the amount of salt otherwise required. Pre-wetting is the process of spraying granular salt with liquid ice melting chemicals before spreading the salt on the roadway. Pre-wetting the salt helps it cling to the road instead of bouncing off or being swept off by traffic. To be effective as a deicing agent, salt requires moisture. Pre-wetting provides the necessary moisture to dissolve the salt, releasing heat, and thereby melting the ice and snow, as well as breaking the ice-road bond.
Snowplowing operations of all 11 main routes usually encompass between four (4) to six (6) hours to complete depending on the severity of the snowstorm. In heavy snowstorms however, crews will make two passes down each street and a single pass into cul-de-sacs to make streets and cul-de-sacs accessible. Full width plowing operations, from curb to curb, are completed after the snowstorms have diminished.
Every winter storm is unique. The variables of precipitation type (sleet, wet snow or fluffy flakes), temperature (air and surface; dropping or rising), time of day (day, night, weekend and/or rush hour), wind speed and direction, event duration and post-storm weather prediction, all affect the manner and effectiveness of snow fighting.
Please view the 2023-2024 Snow and Ice Control Plan for more details.
If you have any questions regarding the Village’s snow and ice control operations, please call the Gurnee Public Works Department at (847) 599-6800. For snow-related emergencies after 3:00 p.m., please contact the Gurnee Police Department’s non-emergency number at (847) 599-7000.