Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

On February 20, 2009, Council held another briefing regarding the December 2008 Winter Storm response. The briefing was the last of 4 scheduled briefings as a result of the “illegal procedural penalty” by the City (excuse my football reference). The “After Action Report” and “Corrective Action Plan” was presented and discussed by Council. Each department with a role in the snow storm submitted a “Corrective Action Plan.” Implementation of all the new policies in the action plan will be completed by September 2009. The action plan included 68 areas for improvement covering 12 agencies and departments.

As mentioned in an earlier blog posting, there was an overarching problem of determining the severity and duration of the storm and the lack of measures in place for different snow advisory conditions (from low to severe). More specifically, I saw two major problems in the City’s and County’s snow response: 1) snow plowing and 2) lack of communication among agencies. There should be a common sense approach in identifying the different response plan if 12 inches of snow falls over a 14 day period compared to the average 2 inch accumulation. The City cannot use the fact that this was the most severe snow storm in the last 20 years as an excuse or claim we now have 20-20 hindsight. The Executive and Council’s main function is to be preemptive and review all possible scenarios.

We must acknowledge our problems to prevent future problems: Here’s the breakdown of what occurred during the 2008 winter storm:

1) The bus situation:

What took place?
• [12/18/08] Metro attempted to offer full service. As it continued to snow, 200 buses got stuck or severely delayed. (Half of Metro’s fleet is articulated or trolley buses. They perform the worst in snowy/ice conditions).
• People waited 15 to 120 minutes or more for the bus.

The problem:
• Coordination problem of bus routes and plowing routes.
• Routes were modified and service dropped to 50%, for which no contingency plan existed.
• More passengers than working buses.
• The extreme bus delays made the bus tracking data completely useless.
• Coordination problem of contingency plans for alternate routes.

Solutions:
• The current Metro radio system operates on 4 channels. Metro is in the process of upgrading the system and is scheduled for completion in 2010. This upgrade will improve the communication.
• GPS installation within the next two years to track buses in real time, on route or off. (The ability to coordinate with real time information and disseminate information is tremendous.)
• Memorandum of Agreement between SDOT and Metro to identify additional key plow routes and liaison to SDOT when necessary.
• Road salt will be used when at least 4” of snow is predicted, when snow is predicted to last more than 3 days, and ice is forecasted.
• Closer coordination between SDOT and Metro by way of a liaison.

2) The Roads:

What took place?
• Even with 27 plows working around the clock on the designated 1,531 lane miles on primary and secondary arterials, the roads seemed impassable.
  Map: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/snowmap1108.pdf

The problem:
• The City has 27 snow plows. The plow system is not equipped to handle 14 plus days of snow and thousands of miles.

Solutions:
• Revised snow policy from the 1990s: road salt will be used when at least 4” of snow is predicted, when ice is predicted, and when snow is forecasted to last more than 3 days.
• The use of salt in combination with increased plowing capability should be more effective.
• Agreements on standby with 13 plow ready contractors
• Increase plow fleet to 29 trucks
• Executive’s Emergency Executive board will be assembled earlier.
• Study feasibility of a GPS tracking system for the winter storm fleet.

3) Garbage pickup communication:

What took place?
• All collection days were missed at least once and about 42% of the total City service area was missed two weeks in a row because of the road conditions.

The problem:
• Many residential streets were inaccessible by garbage trucks.
• Inconsistent information between Seattle Public Utilities Solid Waste’s web site and SPU’s call center regarding pickup schedules.

Solutions:
• Rebate for customers with missed pickups.
• Route all public information through a single SPU process for vetting by the Incident Commander and Public Information officer prior to releasing information to the public.

The National Weather Service notified all response agencies of the storm on 12/11/2008, three days before the snow first hit. The report concluded that at no point did SDOT fail to put all of its operating vehicles on the road. Specified in the Winter Storm Response plan, the Seattle Department of Transportation does not plow side streets or residential streets, this policy will stay the same because of the fleet inventory.

Metro bus locations are currently monitored by transmitters on signposts. There are over 9000 bus stops. There are currently several websites to track your bus location utilizing the tracking data:

• http://www.mybus.org/
• www.onebusaway.org
• http://trackermap.kingcounty.gov/tracker-map-launch.jsp

These websites become ineffective when tracking data fails because the bus detours from the route or is very late, the system loses track of the bus location. When a bus has to chain up, it causes a typical 15-20 minute delay per bus and additional delay because the chains slow down the speed of the bus. Within the next few years, Metro will install GPS systems. Both the City and County should be using inexpensive online communication tools like Twitter, Facebook, neighborhood blogs, and newspaper’s RSS feeds to disseminate detailed bus information.

Metro announced last Friday, 3/06/09, two new online tools to receive the latest transit information:

• http://www.twitter.com/kcnews
• http://www.kingcounty.gov/kcnews

With all the punches the City and County has taken from the snow response, I want to acknowledge that we were fortunate enough to escape any major traumatic incidents or extended power outages. Again, I also want to acknowledge the hard working crews working the 12 hour shifts during those two weeks.

The City has a much more effective game plan in place as a result of the 2008 snow storm. As I tell my kids, “Take advantage of your mistakes and learn!” However, the City should always avoid playing “Monday Morning Quarterback” and examine all major emergency scenarios preemptively on an annual basis.