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First, I do not think we should be pushing for more contracting, except in emergencies. Rather, we should increase the staffing at DOT for snow removal in a more significant and permanent way. I believe these increased snow levels are the new normal, as our climate changes, but even if they are not, the public has been dissatisfied with snow removal for decades. To be clear, this is not about the skill of the men and women on the ground, the operators of our plows and other vehicles. They are top-notch, dedicated professionals. This is about policy choices. We need to grow, recruit, and retain more operators within the DOT workforce.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, we need a paradigm shift in the Department and the Legislature when it comes to building additional lane miles. For decades, Alaska has been increasing our lane miles, whether through building new roads or widening the roads we have. The temptation to do this is almost irresistible, given the federal dollars and the ability to point to a "win" for one's district. I fell victim to this while on the Assembly, and I've seen it in even some of my more thoughtful colleagues: they want more and wider streets. It's time we shifted our thinking and came to understand that increasing our lane miles, which we are still doing at about 3% per year in Southcentral according to the information I received while on AMATS, directly relates to poorer maintenance and reduced snow removal.
There are complicating factors, I understand, but it is still generally the case that if you increase lane miles without significantly increasing maintenance and snow removal budgets, snow removal gets worse.
That means we need to re-evaluate projects that have been in the pipeline for decades, like the expansion of the Seward Highway between O'Malley and Abbott, or the "Midtown Congestion Relief" project between Tudor and 15th. It means we have to look at the Muni design manual, which still pushes projects like the 42nd Ave rebuild to widen the road. And it certainly means we need to be skeptical about things like the Governor's attempt to dramatically widen the Seward highway down to Girdwood. We must ask ourselves, seriously, if we can maintain new facilities. And every time we hear of a road being widened or a new road going in, we should think to ourselves: "Snow removal is going to get a little worse next year."
We can turn this around, but it requires both investment in our workforce and a new perspective, perhaps even a moratorium on new lane miles, in all but extraordinary cases, like fire access. The current level of snow removal is unacceptable and must be a higher priority.
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