INDIANAPOLIS — Some Indianapolis neighborhoods remain snow-covered days after a major winter storm, leaving residents frustrated and stuck despite the city's new snow removal policy designed to set clearer expectations for residential street plowing.
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While major roads have been cleared, numerous side streets and neighborhood roads on the city's north side and throughout Indianapolis have yet to see a plow, according to residents.
"I've lived here for five years. I've never seen them plow any of these streets," resident Jaidan Valentine said.
Valentine lives on a street where residents park on both sides of the street, creating additional challenges during snow events.
"It kind of sucks just because we're a street that you have to park on both sides and so I don't know, just it's hard for other cars to get around me and I've had people hit my cars even with no snow, so I'm just hopefully they don't hit my car right now, but I'm sure someone will," Valentine said.
Neighbor Elaine Dabney expressed understanding for city crews while acknowledging the need for more assistance.
"I'm sure they're overloaded and a little bit overburdened, but it definitely is. We need a little bit more help," Dabney said.
The Department of Public Works adopted the new snow removal policy following last year's winter storm.
Three-tier plowing system
The new plan establishes a three-tier system based on road priority:
Priority 1: Thoroughfares - heavily traveled roads used by emergency vehicles - will be plowed when there is zero to two inches of snow.
Priority 2: Connector roadways - more highly traveled residential roads that connect to main thoroughfares - will be plowed when two to four inches fall.
Priority 3: Remaining Residential roads will be plowed by contractors when snow stops falling and there are four or more inches of accumulation throughout the county.
Indianapolis DPW Director Todd Wilson said the current temperatures are working against clearing efforts.
"I want to emphasize that this is still going to take a little while. This was Indy's largest snowfall in more than a year. The temperatures are not in our favor. This snow is here to stay, folks," Wilson said.
Wilson reported that five of the city's nine townships are about halfway completed with snow removal operations. Based on the amount of snowfall Indianapolis received, crews have until early afternoon to complete their routes.
Since Friday night, Indy DPW says crews have worked more than 7,000 hours and used just under 1,600 tons of salt. DPW/AFSCME Local #725 and Indianapolis Fleet Services/AFSCME Local #3131 crews continue working rotating 12-hour shifts.
For now, residents say they must rely on shovels to clear their own driveways and access routes.
"Yeah, I'm not really going anywhere for a while," Dabney said.
Adam Schumes is the In Your Community reporter for East Side Indy. He joined WRTV in December of 2021. Adam has a passion for telling stories and giving people a voice they might not have had before. Share your story ideas and important issues with Adam by emailing him at adam.schumes@wrtv.com.
