The first snow fall of the season is forecast to begin Saturday night into Sunday.
Lincoln is reviewing how they clear residential streets by changing their four-inch snow policy.
Tim Byrne, winter operations director, told council members a task forced reviewed work in the past.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a process for us to develop those criteria when to go and when not to go as well as assessing which areas need to be plowed. We will see what Mother Nature throws at us this winter.”
Byrne says one option would be to evaluate the type of snow that falls. He cited different amounts like two inches could cause the same amount of issues as a six inch event.
“Four inches is an easy number for people to understand but it doesn’t take into account the type of snow during transportation.”
One key area is city resources, which are limited and why the focus is on arterial streets and bus routes first.
“By the time we finished up with our aerial work and made our way into residentials, it may have been 12 or 24 hours after the end of snow fall. Most of the streets have been driven on and the snow is packed down. Plows have a very limited effectiveness on that time,” Byrne said.
The city is accepted bids for lighter resources like pick-up truck plows. Byrne says staff will be reviewing those in the future.
Byrne said discussions on the policy will continue.