SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) –With more snow on the way, drivers in Sioux Falls might wonder if it will impact city streets. While the main roads are in good shape, some residential areas have snow-lined narrow streets.

So far this winter, we’ve seen just under 58 inches of snow on Sioux Falls’s streets.
KELOLAND Meteorologist Adam Rutt says if we get another six inches of snow, that will tie us for the eighth snowiest winter ever in Sioux Falls. While the main roads are in good shape, side streets remain a challenge, especially where there is a lot of on-street parking. For instance, this street in the central part of the city, with cars parked on both sides of the road, has only room for one car at a time. So we waited our turn.

“We have been doing some selective pick up on some of these streets. We went through after that January event and picked up all of our emergency routes in town to allow free-flowing traffic through the streets,” said Dan Whipple, Street Maintenance Supervisor.
“It’s near impossible for us to pick every single street up in town, but we are doing it where we have issues.”

The city has nine giant snow piles, including this one at the Chambers Street facility. The city cleared the emergency snow routes by using giant snow blowers and trucking 26-thousand loads of snow.

This is the snow pile off Lyons boulevard. As you can see, it is huge. You can see the tracks made by the bulldozer here. You can imagine how big this pile would be if the snow wasn’t compacted, with another four to six to eight inches of snow headed our way, you can bet this pile will get even bigger. If the past is any indication, it will likely be July or August before these piles disappear.

Whipple says we’ve had enough melting that city crews feel they might have enough space for this next storm. Then they’ll decide if they need to haul away more snow off the streets or let mother nature and the march sun do their job.