Seattle Times: Snow Response Driven by Politics

The Seattle Times is reporting that the road clearing during December’s snow storms was driven by political decisions rather than the clearing of critical arterials.

In previous storms, plow drivers had discretion over how best to clear their assigned routes, said plow driver Chris Stuker. City drivers would traverse main routes in tandem, allowing main roads to be cleared and plows to clear feeder streets as they were able to, Stuker and three other drivers said.

But that system was replaced by top-down decision-making that resulted in trucks being pulled from major streets for special assignments and to help less-experienced drivers, most of them working in the south end of the city, according to two drivers who asked to remain anonymous out of a concern for their jobs.

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One Response to “Seattle Times: Snow Response Driven by Politics”

  1. wish they would qualify what they mean by “south end of the city” The first time I saw a snow plow was two snow storms later.