A communication transmitted from Louis A. DePasquale, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item Number 18-04 regarding achieving greater levels of snow clearing, Awaiting Report Item Number 18-07 regarding changing snow removal exemptions and Awaiting Report Item Number 18-117, regarding using the best salt substitutes as de-icers

To: Louie DePasquale, City Manager, From: Owen O’ Riordan Commissioner DPW Date: November 5th, 2018 Re: AR 18-4: Report on exploring mechanisms for achieving greater levels of snow clearing by the city and increase the public response during major snow events or heavy snow winters. AR-18-7: Report on the possibility of changing the snow removal exemption to include two and three-family houses. AR-18-117: Report on using the best available salt substitutes as de-icers where salt may be damaging trees, especially in Linear Park. Summary. The Department of Public Works offers the following in response to the above council orders: Over the last decade + the Department of Public Works has worked closely with other city departments, as well as community groups and commissions, to evaluate how to continue to expand and improve our snow operations across the city. The Department of Public Works, together with the Water Department, the Traffic Department and the Human Services Department have continued to broaden operations to address more effective snow management and achieve greater levels of snow clearance as it relates to salting, plowing, snow removal and indeed compliance with City ordinances as they relate to sidewalk snow clearance. This effort has been undertaken for a variety of reasons, primary among them has been the continued concerns about pedestrian access across the city, most particularly for persons with disabilities and their ability to access various public transportation options. Finally, over the last number of years there has been an increased demand for clearing bicycle facilities immediately after snow events so that community members can continue to cycle to their various destinations.

All of this work is done in coordination with our Emergency Services Departments (Police, Fire and Emergency Communications) to ensure they can be responsive to emergency situations and that we can achieve compliance with snow emergency declarations and access needs throughout the community during and after a storm. The Department of Public Works has been using new software and hardware technology to both improve the efficiency of our snow personnel call-in process as well as improving the efficiency of our equipment deployment and tracking. While smarter deployment of snow clearing resources will greatly assist our snow clearance operations, there exist challenges that offset this benefit, to include a more challenging snow contractor marketplace, the long-term challenges about locating snow dumping locations and the greater probability of more extreme events because of climate change. Finally, the City is also piloting several alternative deicing products this winter as well as introducing a three-day training by the University of Massachusetts for all managers and supervisors to ensure that our work is done efficiently and that the environmental impact associated with our salting and de-icing operations is controlled and minimized. Pedestrian Access. With regard to pedestrian access across the City and the request that the City require greater enforcement of the snow ordinance specific to sidewalk clearance, we offer the following; By city ordinance property owners are required to remove snow from sidewalks next to their properties within 12 hours of snow stopping during the daytime, and before 1 PM when the snow has fallen during the night. Ice on sidewalks needs to be addressed by property owners within 6 hours of its formation. The City uses both Parking Control Officers and Public Works compliance officers to check streets and issues tickets when property owners fail to comply with the ordinance requirements. Ticket numbers issued vary widely year to year depending on the number of snow, ice and salting events that occur throughout a given year and the various natures of each. DPW and the Traffic Department will further explore options to increase the level of enforcement during this winter, but it should be recognized that enforcement numbers in and of themselves are not an accurate representation of either the extent of inaccessible sidewalks across the city or indeed the level of effort or success associated with inspectors and parking control officers work on this issue in any given year[NJ1].

In response to the council order request that city staff and contractors’ clear major sidewalk/ crosswalks access points after snow events, it is important to note that, in fact, City forces and City contractors address much of this work today as part of a program that provides snow clearance across twenty-three miles of sidewalk throughout the city. This effort reaches far beyond that which is required by ordinance and seeks to address, in effective ways the impact snow storms have on the elderly and disabled as they make their way around the city after snow storms. This work has evolved and expanded significantly over the last decade. During that period, we have looked closely at access beyond that associated with purely public buildings and city property but have also looked at public transportation locations to include MBTA subway stops and bus stops and pedestrian ramps and crosswalks adjacent to such, as well as other locations of high pedestrian activity such as, elderly housing. This work is done by hand crews, walk behind snow blowers and sit-on sidewalk plows and salting equipment. Background to winter storm response Storm forecasting. The City has contracted with two metrological companies who provide detailed temporal and spatial forecasts for the city throughout the year. These forecasts play an important role in determining the scale and timing of the City’s response to projected snow events, be it regarding crew sizes and starting times, the numbers and types of contracting equipment that will be utilized and whether a snow emergency will be called and whether schools will be closed. Members of the Department of Public Works Department are in contact with these services on a continuous basis before, during and after snow storms so that our response is properly calibrated to the nature of the storm. While forecasting has become much more accurate in the last decade, there continue to be occasions when forecasts are wrong and where urgent “call-outs” are necessary so that we can address dangerous street and sidewalk conditions promptly.

Example of forecasts provided to the City by Hometown Forecast Service 12/25/17. The City received 4-6 inches of snow on this date. Snow plowing and removal. During major snow storms, the City will maximize the number of staff it deploys to manage the storm. The Department of Public Works together with the Water Department and the Traffic Department will deploy between 50 and 70 snow plowing pieces of equipment during the event and will have in attendance a full crew of mechanics, supervisors and management staff to assist in ensuring the operation runs smoothly. The City also issues a snow plowing contract annually to identify those contractors who are both willing and able to plow for the City when called on during snow events. These are open ended contracts where the obligations provided include, proper licensing, insurance and the rate of payment for each piece of equipment listed in the contract. Cambridge rates are very competitive and are higher than most other communities. The less obvious aspect of mobilizing for snow storms with contractors is determining when and how many contractors should be brought in and how many contractors will be available given that they are also being sought by other communities and by other property owners and institutions. Over the last number of years, it has become more challenging to attract contractors into the city given the uncertainty associated with being called in to plow, the challenging nature of snow plowing, the low employment numbers statewide and competition from other entities for the same equipment.

Storm response doesn’t end after snow stops falling, rather it is a multi-day, multi-dimensional effort that can extend for over a week after the initial event itself. Crews continue to manage sidewalk and pathway accessibility issues around our parks and city owned public spaces for days after the event. Contractors and city crews are scheduled to address snow removal from bus stops, adjacent sidewalks, crosswalks and pedestrian ramps across the city. (It should be noted that the equipment used for snow removal is different to that associated with snow plowing and that the contractual obligations associated with snow removal are different and more rigorous than those associated with plowing). This snow removal effort typically takes two to four nights but may extend even further depending on the size of the storm. Crews, working with the Traffic Department, School Department, Fire Department and DPW are also deployed to assess and address access issues for MBTA and school buses on those various streets where widths have been constrained by windrows. This issue is one that can also exist in business districts where making deliveries becomes much more challenging. Given the extended nature of this response, from a public safety perspective it is of significant concern that both city drivers and contractors remain alert and have had the opportunity to get some rest. This becomes even more important when one snow event follows immediately after another (2015). The Snow Exemption Program. The Department of Human Services is responsible for the Snow Exemption Program and it is managed by the Danehy Park staff and crews. The program is available to low-income homeowners who can document that neither they or any other members of their households can shovel their sidewalks because of physical limitations. At this time the program is limited to single family homes and the Human Services Department assists approximately 70 homeowners after storm events. If the program were to be expanded to two and three-family houses the number could more than double and would be beyond the capacity of the Department of Human Services staff to handle. Given this circumstance we would need to contract out this program expansion. However, contract snow “shovellers” are in short supply at this time. In advertising for shoveling crews for 2018 the number of “shovellers” who submitted bids has gone down

from 12 to 2 when compared to last year. Thus, the option of using contracting crews to address an expanded exemption list is not an option for the 2018/2019 season. The Department of Public Works and the Human Services Department will continue to look at different options with regard to expanding the exemption program for the next winter Disabled Parking Spaces. It has been the City’s practice to clear all disabled parking spaces in front of city properties across the city and the Department of Public Works has sent letters to the major property owners and institutions in the city asking them to do the same and our expectation is that we will obtain a positive response to this request. Snow farms and snow melters. Presently, the City hauls snow to the large parking lot on the west side of Danehy Park on New Street and to one of the larger Harvard University properties in Allston and expects to continue to do so, if such are available and allowed for the next number of years. This snow must then be managed at these locations so as to continue to ensure there is adequate space for the next storm and to make sure, in the case of Danehy Park, that late season storms don’t interfere with parking when spring sports begin. At this time the City has resisted the idea of deploying snow melters as part of its snow management operation. Snow melters are extremely expensive, are difficult to maintain and have a significant carbon footprint when considered in combination with hauling. At some time in the future, the issue of snow melters will need to be revisited again as the existing sites may no longer be viable, because of residential concerns and because of continued development in Allston. The logistics and costs, (both financial and environmental) of melting may be less expensive that those associated with hauling to remote locations Maintaining cycling facilities through the winter months. The Department of Public Works provided a detailed response on December 11th 2017 specific to the increasing number of protected bike facilities that the City continues to implement and construct across the City. Obviously as these new raised cycle tracks and protected bike lanes have come on line, we are challenged to ensure adequate resources are available and in operation to make these facilities as safe as possible as soon as possible after winter storm events. This initiative and the desire to maintain the facilities throughout the winter months further exhausts resources and produces a significant challenge most particularly given the expectations specific to dry underfoot conditions.

Use of Technology. The Department of Public Works is using Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) technology and advanced administrative personnel call-in and tracking technology to manage storms more efficiently for the past number of years. GPS technology at this time has been used primarily to ensure full route coverage by drivers, the next phase in the implementation of this software is related to route optimization and route prompting. Later in time, the expectation is that the City will begin to further optimize its overall approach to snow management using pavement condition patrol technology together with more advanced weather station micro climate indicators to better ensure an optimum response to storm events as they emerge. Salt Use Control and Alternative Product Pilots The City presently uses several de-icing products as part of our overall surface treatment program for winter storms. Sodium Chloride (NaCL) is the primary salt used in the city at this time. It is stored in our salt shed adjacent to Saint Peters Field on Sherman Street and is used on all our streets and many of the 23 miles of sidewalk managed by the city and all the various protected bike facilities managed by the city. It is our practice to treat this salt with a liquid product called Magic Minus Zero. This liquid is a blend of Magnesium Chloride and Molasses and it is premixed with the sodium chloride at the St Peters facility. This mixed product helps reduce the corrosion impacts, lowers freezing temperatures and increases the working time of the product. The last product used is a pelletized product and it has been used on sidewalks around city buildings for the last number of years. It contains a blend of sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium chlorides plus CMA (calcium magnesium acetate). This product is put down with manual spreaders or by hand and typically has a color additive that aids the applicator in seeing where it has been applied. Recognizing the various concerns relative to the environmental impacts of these various salt products, the city has over the last number of years looked at mechanisms to better control and reduce the amount of salt applied during storm events. This effort continues apace at this time. The salting fleet consists of twelve (12) large (5 yard) salters, four (4) small (2 yard) salters, seven (7) sidewalk /bike facility tractors and one mini loader. All the City’s salting trucks have been outfitted with automated electronic salting control systems. This allows for a rate of spread to be established at the outset of the storm and ensures that the rate of delivery varies depending on the speed of the truck to ensure that the rate of spread remains consistent throughout the journey. The DPW sidewalk tractors rate spread is managed by a slotting and auguring system. The slot size is reduced to a minimum and the augur gear setting is also reduced to further minimize the rate at which the tractors spread salt. The Department of Public Works expects to execute three pilot programs this winter to evaluate alternative products and potentially to fundamentally alter our winter salting program over the next number of years.

(1) DPW has purchased two pallets of Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) that we will use as part of our buildings program this winter. CMA is known as the green deicer but at this time is more than ten times the cost of regular salt and is only available in bag form. (2) DPW has identified a roadway anti-icing and de-icing route in the north of the city where a small salter will be deployed this winter using a brine mixture rather than solid sodium chloride to pre-treat streets and post -treat streets after a snow event. This route will cover the “Montgomery grid” and Linear Path. This area encompasses the streets between Rindge Avenue and Harvey Street and Cedar Street and Clifton Street. Brine is a water and salt mixture with a 23.3% salinity. It can be placed well in advance of the storm onset, is directly applied to the roadway, without much scatter and as a pre-treatment mechanism can reduce the amount of salt applied by as much as half. (3) DPW will also deploy a sidewalk tractor with brine along a specified route through this winter. The expectation is that such will also result in a significant reduction in salt deposits on trees, shrubs and green areas throughout the city. Finally, the Department of Public Works expects to have three days of training for supervisors and management staff in December of this year specific to winter storm management. The topics that will be covered include: • The proper use of salt and liquid anti-icers and the environmental impacts. • Pre-wetting and pre-treating • Anti-icing vs. De-icing. • Equipment calibration, usage specification and technology. • Snow and ice policy for public review.

Ongoing Expansion and Enhancement Initiatives. The above paragraphs provide some details about the existing snow plowing and snow clearing programs and some of the initiatives that are presently underway or are being considered by the city. Given the significant expansions over the last number of years relative to the City’s snow clearing efforts, be it with regard to an increased sidewalk and pedestrian operation, or the increased and increasing bike facilities operation or indeed the ever expanding snow removal operation, it is ever more challenging to further expand these programs recognizing, the challenging private contractor environment, the lack of snow farms and the evidence of more extreme weather. While it is not suggested that additional attention should not be given to further improve our programs, it is important to recognize that consolidating our existing programs is a challenge in and of itself. Much of what has been related in the above paragraphs relates to resource deployment through proper planning, logistics management and efficient and timely program execution. All the program expansions thus far exact a financial impact. While the numbers shown in the adjacent graphs are but a small sample of snow totals and snow costs per year in the City of Cambridge over the last ten years these graphs and numbers demonstrate that the city is investing

significantly more money in winter weather management over the last number the years. While it is not suggested that snow totals in and of themselves are adequate surrogate for winter weather conditions, to include ice and cold temperatures, it is informative that in taking a five-year moving average from 2011 through 2018 the city has increased expenditure on a per inch basis, by almost double since that time.