Q&A
Pre-positioning of salt spreaders before snow events
0:13:00
ยท
143 sec
Acting Commissioner Lojan describes DSNY's process for pre-positioning salt spreaders before snow events. The department aims to place equipment strategically while considering various factors.
- DSNY tries to position spreaders as close to the start of each route as possible
- Considerations include avoiding disturbances to residents and sensitive areas like schools
- The department aims to be close to highways when relevant
- Preparation begins when the snow season starts in December, with equipment upgrades completed by then
- Salt spreaders are typically loaded 8 to 12 hours before a projected storm
- Pre-positioning locations are generally static year to year to aid in monitoring equipment placement
Shaun Abreu
0:13:00
How does DSNY determine where to pre position the salt spreaders before a snow event?
Javier Lojan
0:13:05
So this is part of our post snow season analysis.
0:13:11
We try to have it as close to the start of each route as possible.
0:13:15
Obviously, we take into consideration, you know, where these preposition points are.
0:13:18
We wanna make sure we're not, you know, disturbing residents or any sensitive areas near schools where we're disturbing, you know, school kids if if it's during the day.
0:13:26
We wanna be as close to the start of the route as possible.
0:13:29
And, you know, if it's near a highway or something, we wanna be as close to that as as
Shaun Abreu
0:13:33
How long does it take to get a, I guess, the preparation before the the saucepedders are pre positioned?
Javier Lojan
0:13:43
So it it depends what kind of storm we're going into.
0:13:47
As soon as snow season starts so December is the start of our night plow season.
0:13:52
All at that point, all of our salt spreaders, all of our spreading equipment has been upgraded by then.
0:13:56
Our, like I mentioned before, our Bureau of Motor Equipment does a phenomenal job of upgrading our fleet.
0:14:03
Once we're done with that, we plow all the salt spreaders up.
0:14:07
They're plowed up from the minute the snow season starts.
0:14:11
And then once we have a sense that we're going into a storm, we load all our salt spreaders, you know, maybe 8 to 12 hours before the 4th the start of the the projected storm.
0:14:21
And then, you know, depending on the timing, we will usually preposition them.
0:14:25
So, you know, anywhere like 12 to 8 you know, 12 hours or so out to have a good sense of when, you know, when to dispatch the spread of the year.
Shaun Abreu
0:14:31
Thanks for answering that.
0:14:32
Have any locations been determined to be a designated or predetermined prepositioning location, or does that change year to year?
Javier Lojan
0:14:39
It changes year to year.
0:14:40
But once it changes, we pretty much it's a static, a a set of preposition locations, so we really don't change them.
0:14:47
And the reason why we do that is because once we dispatch our our fleet, Blade Runner is one of the things that helps us look at we look at the map, we look at the equipment and say, okay.
0:14:58
We're supposed to have an a piece of equipment here at this preposition point.
0:15:02
And if we see that they're not there, then we start that's when we look and say, okay.
0:15:06
Where is this piece?
0:15:06
Where is it?
0:15:07
Because you're talking about 25 100 plows, 700 spreaders.
0:15:11
So you could you'd imagine, it's a lot of pieces to look at on a map.
0:15:14
So that helps us kinda give a good sense of maybe there may be an issue here.
0:15:18
It might be, you know, down equipment, something.
0:15:20
So we we predetermined that, on the play run.