Snow season is close, and the same two questions come with it every year: when will my street get plowed, and how long do I have to shovel? The City of Fort Collins covers its side of the work in an episode of its City View series, ‘City View (Ep 4) – City Snow Operations,’ on the city’s official YouTube channel.
We have not described the video beyond its title, and we could not confirm when it was posted, so numbers in it may be older than the ones below. The details that follow come from the city’s current snow removal and code compliance pages.
Video: ‘City View (Ep 4) – City Snow Operations,’ City of Fort Collins. Embedded from the creator’s YouTube channel; Colorado Local has no connection to the creator.
What to know
- Plow order: Streets are plowed in priority order to keep emergency services and essential travel moving: major roads first, then collector streets, school zones and bus routes.
- Residential streets: The city plows them during a declared Snow Emergency or if snow blocks traffic.
- The scale: The city maintains more than 1,050 lane miles of priority roads and clears more than 100 miles of sidewalks. It applies salt brine to roads before a storm.
- Your sidewalk: Sidewalks must be cleared within 24 hours after snow stops falling. The rule applies to all properties, including homes, apartments and businesses.
- If you do not: Inspectors patrol after 24 hours and may issue a courtesy warning. After 48 hours the city may remove the snow and bill the property owner, with administrative fees added.
- Ice: The city says ice should be treated with sand or other traction materials.
- Who to call: Unshoveled sidewalks, Neighborhood Services at 970-224-6046. If a plow buried a walk you already cleared, the Streets Department at 970-221-6615.
- Details: the city’s snow removal page and code compliance page
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