Laramie’s less traveled neighborhood streets are left unplowed in the winter, making it more difficult to navigate these roads in inclement weather.
The city of Laramie operates according to a set of snow plowing priorities during the winter, favoring arterial and collector streets over alleys, parking lots and sidewalks.
“Most people understand that with the restrictions that we have with staffing and resources that it is impossible to plow every street in town,” Laramie Street Division manager Shane Johnson said.
Johnson also said that plowing the neighborhood roads would not be especially beneficial to residents.
“The residential streets are so narrow that it causes more issues for people getting in and out of their driveways,” Johnson said.
In addition to plowing, high traffic streets receive chemical and salt treatments to reduce ice and snow cover. Residential streets usually don’t receive any kind of treatment.
According to the Laramie snow and ice policy, “Local and residential streets are not intended to receive regular winter maintenance and plowing is to commence only if such streets become impassable.”
For students like UW sophomore Bradley Bowles, the icy neighborhood roads can be treacherous in the winter.
“I can’t drive my car very well on the side roads because of the snow,” Bowles said. “When I’m walking, the ice on the roads is very slippery and makes it difficult to get around.”
Bowles recently was involved in a car accident due to snowy road conditions, which he said has made him even more cautious.
“Even with slow driving, you can crash your car if the conditions are bad, especially in Laramie,” Bowles said. “there are a lot of side streets that are completely snow covered or snow packed,”
Sophomore Hunter Bjorkquist compared Laramie streets to his hometown of Cheyenne.
“[Cheyenne] used to always plow the residential streets and even if it was a day or two later, they used to do it at least once and sand it,” Bjorkquist said. “Up here I feel like they only plow the main streets.”
Bjorkquist also said that the street he lives on “has been a sheet of ice since that snowstorm over break, and it has just been absolutely horrible trying to pull into my driveway.”
Bowles and Bjorkquist agreed that snow clearing on campus was satisfactory.
“They’re always out on top of things when they need to plow,” Bowles said.
“they do a really good job, and they salt it very well,” Bjorkquist said. “I have no complaints on the university side cleaning their sidewalks whenever it snows.”
