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.
Why Is Snow Always Left At The End Of My Driveway
While it’s frustrating to shovel your driveway only to have the plow come by and push snow back at the base, it is not feasible to plow the street so that your driveway remains completely “snow free.” Roadway design, the type of equipment that is utilized and the severity of snow events all factor into the size of the windrow left in the plow's wake. This problem is magnified in cul-de-sacs because there is often limited parkway space for snow storage, and centrifugal force causes the snow to move off of the plow toward the outside of the circle.
To minimize snow deposits at the end of your driveway, try not to create large piles of snow in the parkway on the upstream side of the driveway and never shovel or blow snow into the street.