Leaders in metro Atlanta say they are better prepared for ice and snow than they were in January, when a coating of ice brought much of the region to a skidding halt and pointed out the deficiencies of planning at the state, county and city levels.
Jurisdictions are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new spreaders and plows, bringing trainers down from ice-experienced cities, drawing up plans for cooperation and sharing of resources, and placing contractors on standby.
The goal is to “respond, get the city opened for business and get access to everybody’s driveway,” Richard Mendoza, Atlanta’s commissioner of public works, told members of the City Council this month.
The storm shut down most of metro Atlanta’s road grid for five days, causing some of the region’s businesses to measure their losses in the millions. But while the region’s municipalities and counties have called for greater cooperation in event of another storm, they have split in terms of approach. An era of tighter budgets has left several local governments gun-shy about spending too much on new equipment in response to a storm far more intense than normally hits the area.
For its part, Atlanta’s Department of Public Works is betting it will need more equipment. It is adding 23 sand spreaders, raising the total to 31. The city also will have 40 snowplows on hand this time around, including new garbage trucks equipped with snowplows, according to a recent presentation to City Council members. It also has contracted with experts from Richmond to train snowplow operators. Two dry runs have been scheduled.
Atlanta’s new plan involves better coordination between city departments such as Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Police, and Fire Rescue, as well with Fulton County and the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Such cooperation with the state was sorely lacking in January, when state and local leaders came in for heavy criticism for their handling of the storm.
“It was a disaster,” said Sean Lupton-Smith, owner of Fishook Grill in Atlantic Station. “It was almost three days when we didn’t have any business.”
The week of Jan. 9 slowed commerce across the region. One businessman, T.R. “Ted” Benning III, owner of Smyrna-based Benning Construction Co., told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his company stood to lose $1 million in revenue.
Since then, Georgia has spent more than $2.5 million to prepare for future winter storms. The money has gone toward replacing worn-out equipment and expanding the state’s fleet of snowplows and spreaders by more than 15 percent, the AJC reported previously.
Mark McKinnon, a spokesman for the DOT, said residents need to understand the department’s limits.
“We are not Boston, we are not the Northeast — or Northwest, for that matter — or Chicago,” he said. “We don’t need to invest loads and loads of money on equipment for storms that happen every 10 years.”
After January’s ice storm, Gov. Nathan Deal implemented a plan empowering the director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to orchestrate all state agencies involved in a storm.
“This will streamline communication and cut down on confusion,” Deal said in a statement to the AJC.
Deal said the state is lining up private contractors who can take to streets during another winter storm. A state law passed this year protects those contractors from abusive lawsuits for their work during a state of emergency, he said. He said “liability fears caused many contractors to refuse the job” in the past.
The state has also issued standing permission to counties to clear state routes in their jurisdictions, such as Camp Creek Parkway, said Richard Coates, Fulton County’s assistant director of public works.
“It was a problem in some cases [in January] because GDOT’s priority is the interstates,” Coates said.
Since March, local officials have met several times with their counterparts at the state’s Transportation and Emergency Management departments to hash out storm plans. This year, emergency managers will have access to a shared website to check the status of roads.
Meanwhile, DeKalb County is getting more attachments to outfit 12 units to remove ice and snow and treat roadways during large storms, spokesman Burke Brennan said. DeKalb also has bought more tire chains and is expanding its salt shed. The upgraded equipment and facilities are expected to cost $452,000.
Cobb County has been given the go-ahead to buy three more spreader hoppers for existing trucks, bringing the total to six, said Bill Shelton, director of the county’s Department of Transportation. And if Cobb needs plows on short notice, it has locked in contractors at a set price.
Cobb’s crews will stockpile material and move spreaders and trucks to at least three locations before storms hit in an effort to shorten the time it takes to treat roads.
Leland Smithson, snow and ice coordinator at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, said stretching a budget is an art in storm preparation.
“It’s chasing a mirage if you think you’re going to get everything you want,” he said. “Especially in government, because typically you have budgets that don’t cover everything.”
In parts of metro Atlanta, fear looms large of wasting money on equipment that goes largely unused.
“With shrinking budgets for us and everyone else,” said Kim Conroy, acting director of Gwinnett County’s Department of Transportation, “how much are you going to spend on equipment that you might only use every eight to 10 years?”
In 26 years, Conroy says he has seen only two storms that merited big fleets of vehicles. So Gwinnett has chosen not to spend more on equipment or preparation than last year. Cherokee and Fulton counties are taking a similar approach.
Instead of adding snowplows and spreaders, Gwinnett hopes to stretch its resources by relying on its traffic control center and its 100-something cameras to spot spots where motorists are having trouble stopping.
“We’re living and learning,” Conroy said. “We obviously can’t be everywhere at once, so we need to prioritize accordingly.”
Staff writer Ariel Hart contributed to this article.
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