Public Works focuses on plowing high-traffic areas in Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Department of Public Works on Monday was focusing on plowing streets that first responders use the most and that get the most traffic.
Then, they’ll work on connector streets.
That is why residential streets might still be hard to navigate for some. Public Works says there are just more important streets for plows to tackle.
Auboni Hart, a Public Works spokesperson, said, “They are still working 24/7. They are on 12-hour rotating shifts. That’s 70 tucks per shift. We anticipate remaining in this 12-and-12 through the end of this week.”
The city has an interactive map showing which roads are being prioritized over others. Light blue coloring shows roads being plowed now, with red and white being roads that will be tackled eventually.
While the city is taking a methodical approach to plow the 4,000 square miles of roads, some Hoosiers are taking matters into their own hands to clear driveways and sidewalks.
Jim Malone said he loves using his snowblower, “Last year, I couldn’t use it at all, which was a bummer for me, so I was grateful to have a snow like today so I could go ahead and do some snow blowing.”
He doesn’t just stop with his own. “I just feel it’s the right thing to do, go a few houses down north and south to get their driveways and sidewalks, and I know a lot of people use sidewalks to get down to 56th and Illinois. Lot of shopping down there, so I like to keep the sidewalk clean for them, too.”
It wouldn’t be a snow day without some fun. The Chase brothers took full advantage of being off school to build on a tradition. Andy Chase said, “We always build a fort and some kind of igloo but, this year, we got so much that we could actually do something cool, so we started building it yesterday and it just kept snowing on it and it got bigger.”
Being the youngest brother is perilous on days like this. Will Chase described the day: “Fun, exciting. Kind of nerve wracking, because they can like throw snowballs at you.”
Whether you’re dodging snowballs or snowdrifts in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood, Public Works says streets on the north side aren’t seeing major plow attention yet because the south side was worse.
Public Works’ Hart said, “It might be easier to navigate up there than it is on the south side, and so we’re just trying to make sure that we make it easy for everyone to navigate.”