How does Northfield remove all the snow from downtown after a storm?

The complex choreography behind clean downtown streets

Snow plowing pushes snow to the curb. Snow removal hauls it away when curb piles block parking, loading zones, and pedestrian access. See my 58-second video of last Tuesday's operation:

I got up at 3:30 a.m. on December 30 to capture a five-person City of Northfield Streets Division crew and their machines removing downtown snow piles from the weekend's 7-8 inch storm. The removal operation runs from midnight until about 7 a.m., with two additional crew members arriving at 5 a.m. to begin salting cleared areas. It’s done after citywide plowing is complete, the final cleanup phase that most residents never see.

While loaders move snow piles off sidewalks and curbs into the middle of the street, a grader two blocks away pushes snow into rows. The snowblower works its way along another street, loading snow into semis hired from private contractors. The semis shuttle back and forth to the city's maintenance facility lot on Riverview Drive. The crew coordinates via radio, working section by section through downtown.

Photo Gallery 1: Loaders move snow from sidewalks and curbs (click any photos and then scroll through the gallery).

Photo gallery 2: Grader and snowblower team up to load semis.

Now you know where all that snow goes, and how it gets there.

For more on how the city handles winter operations, see the City of Northfield snowplowing webpage, including a detailed PDF of its snow and ice removal policy.

See the latest Northfield.org posts in the archive.