Homeowners Welcome Snow Gates

SIOUX FALLS, SD - Our recent snowfall provided another good testing track for the city's two new snow gates.

Gordon Folkerts is cleaning up what the city plows left behind.  In the past, every time a plow drove by, it would leave a three to four foot wall of snow and ice in Folkert's driveway.

"But sometime that snow gets kind of hard and that can give you a pain," Folkerts said. 

It seems a snow gate is the perfect prescription to relieve that pain and help get rid of the snow.

"I would say it does, it looks good," Folkerts said.

The city spent $12,000 on two of these snow gates. They're being tested in two Sioux Falls neighborhoods.  Dylan Kvaale is surprised how well they work.

"I really didn't know what was going on with the gates but I just noticed that the last two times they've plowed, we haven't had any snow at the end of our driveway," homeowner Dylan Kvaale said.

That's different than last year.

"It was brutal.  We came back from Christmas vacation and we had about three or four feet right in the front of our driveway," Kvaale said.

Not this year, which is why this homeowner gives the gates a passing grade.

"Absolutely, I think it would be definitely a good investment," Kvaale said.

Another tool to help homeowners bear the brunt of another winter in KELOLAND. The city will continue its snow gate test throughout the rest of the winter.