This was a question I asked several times when I would hear stories from former coworkers in Bismarck. Of course when we agreed to move to Canada, I knew I was about to learn the answer. Although it did snow some this week, I still think I can safetely say that we have survived our first winter (or at least part of one) and I thought I might share what I've learned.
I believe the snow plows, graders, and dump trucks ran pretty much every day all winter long. Ethan and I would see (or hear) them whenever we were out. If the streets didn't need to be cleaned, they would be working to move the snow piles that were created from when they did clean the streets. The city has several locations throughout town where they haul the snow and dump it. During the time that we were here, we didn't see our cul-de-sac get cleared but it looked like it had been cleaned at least once before we arrived. I did hear in the news, that the city was starting on the neighborhood streets but it got interrupted by more snow and finally the snow just started melting. The neighborhood streets are suppose to be a 5 day process and they have a schedule online showing when each neighborhood should be completed.
We did know that they put down sand on the roads here instead of salt or chemical because of the cold temperatures. We learned that they are able to recycle some of this sand each year. The snow piles in the snow melt areas around town will melt down this summer leaving the sand behind. There is also lots of the sand remaining on the streets and we are told the street sweepers will pick up the sand and recycle it.
When Wade and I came to visit in September we saw a large building with a huge fenced in area beside it. Wade was looking at the Engineered Air units on top of the large building but I noticed the sign had the same logo as the buses around town. What we couldn't figure out was what the huge fenced in area was for. We know know that this was one of the snow melt areas where the snow is hauled off to.
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