The City of Bloomington has launched a new pilot program for shoveling high-priority pedestrian routes to increase access and safety.
Bloomington saw over a foot of snow last week, making the task of shoveling especially challenging.
Adam Wason, public works director for the city, said the city focuses on clearing the highest-volume streets first, such as Walnut Street and College Mall Road, and streets where emergency services travel. In clearing streets, he said snow can inevitably end up on sidewalks.
“On some of our sidewalks that are directly adjacent to the roadway, these are called monolithic sidewalks, there's no tree plot between the sidewalk and the roadway,” he said. “So, when the snowplow pushes the snow, it tends to push it off the road and towards those sidewalks. That's a difficult, challenging situation for those specific property owners.”
The city is targeting some of those specific sidewalks, Wason said, such as the one along the South Walnut corridor, from Second Street to Winslow Road, that is nearly two miles long. The program also covers the Second and Third Street I-69 overpasses, sidewalks that function as east-west connectors in the city.
“When we looked at trying to choose where we were going to do this, it was, where are a lot of pedestrians tending to be in a major roadway, because they cannot walk in the sidewalks?” he said. “So that big, long stretch of the Walnut Street corridor was our first priority network. We saw a lot of folks in snow falls walking in that lane of Walnut Street, super high-volume traffic.”
The city has budgeted about $50,000 for contracted snow removal for the program this year. Wason estimates shoveling the South Walnut corridor alone following last week’s snowstorm cost upwards of $10,000.
Wason said the program could be renewed next year if the city can find additional funding but still urged property owners to shovel their sidewalks. Bloomington Municipal Code requires property owners to clear snow and ice from their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall; failure to comply can result in fines ranging from $50 to $150.
“On properties that the city owns out in front of City Hall, et cetera, the city's responsible for that snow removal from sidewalks,” he said. “We really have to count on our private property partners to do their end as well. But we'll continue looking at the those high (volume) areas where the pedestrians are using the infrastructure most.”
