Increased snow, decreased temperatures add to winter weather costs

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Cars drive carefully through the snow on Fourth Street as a snow storm blows through Illinois.

This winter season, the Urbana-Champaign area has seen about 40 inches of snow, which is more than 15 inches than the area average, according to the Illinois State Water Survey.

The added snowfall is more than just a pain in the neck — it is also expensive.

Through January, University Facilities and Services spent $306,535 on snow removal, up from $83,710 through January last year, according to an email from campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler.

This total stems from labor costs and overtime as well as rising material prices and equipment maintenance.

For the University and the cities of Urbana and Champaign, determining the budget for snow removal is based on averages of past years.

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Champaign and the University look at past levels of snowfall, and Urbana looks at how much money has been needed in past years. Kris Koester, Champaign Public Works public information officer, said the city of Champaign estimates that it costs around $19,000 to clear each inch of snow. 

“We do realize that there will be less than that, and there will be years where we have more, so we just have to be able to plan,” Koester said. “It’s best for us to be able to plan for something that we get on average so we have the appropriate amount of coverage.”

The amount of accumulation is not the only aspect of winter weather that counts toward the costs of snow removal. 

This year the cost of salt has risen due to added national demand. 

“For example, as of right now, we’ve spent more than $80,000 on rock salt this year, and recently you’ve had prices increase due to supply shortages across the country,” said Steve Breitwieser, Facilities and Services media communication specialist. 

Although the cost of salt has risen with demand, it is not the most costly part of the price tag as staffing and labor payment costs the most.

“The biggest cost we have — granted salt costs quite a bit — but the biggest expense is just the overtime of staff,” said John Collins, Urbana Public Works operations director.

Employing staff in multiple departments who are on call at all hours of the night when weather is inclement is necessary to ensure safe travel.

“We have more than 250 people involved in snow removal operations and (Facilities and Services) working long hours though this winter to make sure that campus stays open,” Breitwieser said. “When you think of the snow removal process it takes all these different units working together as a team to really make it happen.” 

Workers have faced an added difficulty this year in dealing with low temperatures, which reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of road salt and calcium chloride salt melt. 

“We spend an awful lot of time looking at the weather conditions before, during and after an event,” Collins said.

By monitoring the weather, city officials are able to decide the best way to address the weather, which ultimately reduces costs. City governments also pretreat roads with a brine solution as another cost cutting measure. 

About one and a half tons of salt can make 1,000 gallons of brine, and Breitwieser estimates that it takes about 3,000 gallons of brine to pretreat the roads before a winter storm. He added that the brine makes the removal process more efficient by reducing the number of passes plows need to make to fully remove the snow.

This can assist in the process, but warmer weather is the cheapest way to remove snow. 

“I think everyone is hoping for some warmer temperatures to help with the removal process,” Breitwieser said.  

Miranda can be reached at [email protected].