Week of Feb. 2, 2009

Clean-up activities last long after storms pass

Just like those pesky out-of-town visitors who leave a mess behind when they go home, King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) crews are still dealing with the aftermath of severe winter storms that happened weeks ago.

Four successive snowstorms in December and two major winter floods kept transportation staff busy with emergency response during the bad weather. But, there are still weeks of clean-up work to complete.

“Clearing roads, keeping buses running, and maintaining airport operations during a storm is intense work for our department staff,” said KCDOT Director Harold Taniguchi, “but there is little rest once the skies clear. There is damage to repair, storm debris to remove and recycle, plus our own equipment needs some downtime for maintenance after all those hours in action.”

Taniguchi said post-storm activities have to be scheduled around the regular ongoing work program, and other storms that may occur as winter transitions into spring. One storm can create weeks – even months – of work beyond the actual storm response.

Currently, the King County Road Services Division is caught up with most of the post-storm debris removal, and most county roads have reopened. Now, the division’s attention turns to the repairs needed to open the remaining roads, and fixing washouts and other damage to the shoulders, slopes and drainage systems that abut the roads.

The Bridge and Maintenance units have been working together to clear log jams and debris from underneath 14 county bridges. In some locations, there is erosion near bridges that will need to be repaired.

The Maintenance unit is also busy sweeping up tons of sand that was laid down on county roads during storms to provide traction for vehicles. Maintenance Superintendent Tony Ledbetter said this will be an ongoing job for several weeks, because the crews are still putting down sand on icy nights – a safety measure that continues into late April in some county locations.

For several years now, the Road Division has been cleaning and recycling those sweepings. It also recycles the logs and downed limbs collected after storms. They are often used in other county projects, either as large pieces or chipped up for mulch.

Metro's Larry Overcash inspects bus chains and makes repairs after the snowstorm.

Just like the Road Division, transit workers are busy sweeping up sand from park-and-ride lots, bus bases, and transit centers. There were also trees down on transit properties that had to removed and recycled. Some of those trees landed on overhead trolley wires, causing damage that is still being repaired. Power and Facilities Manager Jerry Rutledge says his crews ended up taking a small wood chipper with them on just about all their storm-related calls because it was the quickest way to deal with all the fallen limbs.

Transit’s Vehicle Maintenance staff has spent weeks repairing and cleaning buses. Serious storm damage to the buses was minimal, but there were plenty of tires to replace, body dings and dents to fix, and mechanical wear-and-tear to repair.

Also, the sand and grit left behind by the storm response had to be cleaned from the buses – both inside and out. The leftover sand was also a problem in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, where it had to be swept up multiple times.

At the King County International Airport at Boeing Field it wasn’t just snow removal crews had to deal with. After the storms stopped, they also had to take care of snow disposal, clear ramp areas and parking lots that are used by airport T-hangar and tie-down tenants.

“The airport property is almost 600 acres in size and most of it was covered with several inches of snow in December,” said KCIA Operations Manager Chris Hall. “Our crews did a great job clearing snow from runways, taxiways, and tie-down areas, but the removal efforts left piles of snow everywhere.”

After the storm, Hall said it took three dump trucks several days to move the snow piles from various locations around the airport and into the north end of the field where it melted naturally without being in the way of airport operations.

And, every division is working to restock chains, sand, wiper blades, work gloves, and all the other equipment that is easy to burn through during a winter storm.

Bob Toppen, the Equipment Supervisor for the KCDOT Fleet Administration Division, says his staff has been inspecting all the snow and ice removal equipment and restocking supplies, along with blowing off sand on just about everything inside and outside of the shop. At this time of year, there’s one deadline in everyone’s mind.

“Over the past several weeks, we’ve been doing full preventative maintenance inspections and looking for any damage that needs repairing on the equipment,” said Toppen. “We want everything good to go for the next storm, whenever it might happen.”

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