‘The worst that I’ve seen:’ City officials push DPW on unplowed residential roads

Councilor Jared Evans, who grew up in Indianapolis, described the city’s response to recent snowstorms as “the worst that I’ve seen” at Thursday night’s meeting of the Public Works Committee.

He wasn’t alone. Officials representing districts throughout the city said their constituents were left frustrated and concerned after residential streets went unplowed in the aftermath of early January’s snowfall.

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Indianapolis once hired private contractors to plow residential streets following 6 inches or more of snowfall. That rule was scrapped in 2020 in favor of a new policy requiring plows to clear busy connector streets. Officials totals from the National Weather Service in Indianapolis show parts of the city have received more than 15 inches of snowfall since Jan. 5.

The concerns were so abundant that the committee’s chair, Kristin Jones, invited leaders from the Department of Public Works (DPW) to address the issues.

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Sam Beres, DPW interim director, delivered remarks for the committee alongside Natalie Van Dongen, deputy director of policy and planning.

Before taking questions, Beres and Van Dongen shared a presentation emphasizing crews’ relentless efforts to clear major thoroughfares and their connecting streets — a round-the-clock effort that’s so far required more than 13,000 overtime hours.

Despite a challenging battle against the snow, contractors weren’t brought in to help with residential streets. Beres said that the decision wasn’t based on financial constraints, instead citing concerns about property damage on narrow streets and the potential for further icing.

That explanation didn’t suffice for Councilor Brian Mowery.

“Now all of those neighborhoods are a sheet of ice anyway, because they didn’t get plowed, and they were driven on top of, and it just compacted the snow into ice,” Mowery said.

Councilors emphasized that they appreciated the efforts of the city’s crews — more than a dozen of whom were sitting in the audience — but they were unhappy with the department’s lack of any clear plan for the city’s residential street.

“You will see this council at least have a discussion — and a vote — on changing this policy,” Councilor Josh Bain said.

Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@gannett.com or (317) 800-2956.