Streets, Drainage & Weather

Street Department Mission

The Town of Milliken Street Department's mission is to provide the community with the best possible service at the lowest cost.  The Street Department maintains paved and dirt roads.  We currently have approximately thirty-five miles of paved surface and five miles of gravel roads. We treat the road surfaces with a combination of treatments, such as fog seal, chip seal, crack seal and dust suppression.  We provide snow removal according to our Snow Plan.  We also sweep town streets in accordance to our Sweeping Plan.  The Town also has an extensive rehabilitation and maintenance program for roads.

Storm Drainage Department’s Mission 

The Storm Drainage Department's mission is to provide the community with the best possible service at the lowest cost. The Department maintains the drainage system throughout the town.  These services include jetting, cleaning, mowing and burning ditches.  The Town also maintains all the irrigation for the Town lakes.

Snow & Ice Removal Service Objective 

• To have all designated streets in the Snow Removal Plan plowed and treated within 24 hours after the storm has let up.
• To reduce the cost of snow removal through the acuisition and utilization of efficient equipment, thereby minimizing the cost of hiring contractors.
• To divide the Town into areas where equipment with plows and spreaders can effectively provide snow removal services in the areas designated.
• For major storms of more than eight-inch snowfall, to divide and efficiently utilize operating personnel to ensure effective snow removal.
• To sufficiently train adequate numbers of personnel to operate all available snow removal equipment.

Winter Preparedness

The Town is ready this season for whatever old man winter can throw at us, dump on us or ice up. During the past few weeks, Public Works Department personnel have been preparing for the upcoming winter season and getting equipment ready to provide safe and efficient snow removal on Town streets. The Town has several pieces of equipment that are used for snow & ice control operations including, plow trucks, loaders, graders and sanders While we use the term “sanding”, the Town does not use sand or salt in its efforts to combat snow and ice, we use a product called “Ice Slicer” which is a naturally occurring product from material mines in and around Redmond, Utah.  Ice Slicer is an all natural product that is a blend of minerals plus calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium chlorides and grit for instant traction. It is 70% less corrosive than salt and completely dissolves leaving the roadway surface residual free. Prior to 2003 the Town used a mixture of salt and sand for snow and ice control which leaves a sand residual on streets that creates dusty conditions and requires frequent street sweeping to remove. Ice Slicer is both very effective, cost efficient and environmentally friendly.

In addition, one of our trucks is equipped with liquid spray tanks which can hold and apply a product called “Ice Ban 2000” a liquid anti-icing agent. This product can be sprayed on roads prior to the onset of potential roadway icing conditions. The product serves to prevent and/or minimize ice from forming on roadway surfaces and aids in the sustained control of ice and snow accumulation on surfaces over an extended period of time.

The Town’s Snow and Ice Control Plan also identifies the manner in which the Town’s Public Works Department will respond to snow and ice events. The plan identifies priority streets for plowing and ice control efforts to ensure that residents are provided safe travel during adverse weather conditions. The plan also provides the Public Works Department with two designated Snow Teams that will respond to adverse weather conditions on a 24 hour basis as conditions warrant.

As a reminder, the Town does not plow or treat residential streets except when snow depth measured/reported by NWS or MPW reaches greater than 4” from a single snow event. Under normal snow and ice conditions and on an as-needed basis, the Town will plow and/or treat major arterial and collector streets know as the Loop only and all streets within a one block radius adjacent to schools as identified in the Snow & Ice Plan. Also, the Town does not have a “Bare Pavement Policy” as we use rubber tipped plow blades which do not allow for the removal of all the snow from the pavement surface when we plow. All Residents according to Town Ordinance are required to clean all snow and ice from sidewalks adjacent to their properties.

For additional information or questions of Snow and Ice Control efforts by the Town, please contact Mike Woodruff, Public Works Director with the information provided at the top of the page.

Designated Streets on Snow & Ice Removal Plan

The designated streets in the Snow Removal Plan form a network that provides reasonable access to a plowed street for all properties in the Milliken.  Designated streets meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Arterial or collector status
• Downtown central business district
• Provide one-block radius access to schools
• Provide access adjacent to emergency facilities
• Provide access to the Town of Milliken service facilities

Plowing/Treating of Non-Designated Streets

Under certain severe snowstorm conditions it may be necessary to plow all streets in the Town. The following conditions will be evaluated byt the Public Works Director to determine the necessity of plowing residential streets that are not designated in the Plan.

1. Snowfall Accumulation. Approximately 6 inches of snow should have accumulated in a 24-hour period. (“One pass” only plowing on streets will be conducted.)
2. Availability of Funds. Careful examination of the current year snow removal services budget, as well as the status of overall Town budget expenditures.
3. Emergency Vehicle Mobility. The Police Chief will be contacted to determine whether emergency and Police vehicles can remain reasonably mobile.
4. Time of Year. Stronger consideration should be given to plowing residential streets in the winter, as compared to the spring and fall, when warmer weather is likely to melt much of the snow within two days of the snow event.
5. Short-term Weather Forecast. Are other storms or cold spells following? If so, stronger consideration to plowing residential streets should be given.
6. Citizen Safety. The safety of citizens will also be taken into consideration during and following a snow storm.

The Public Works Director and Town Administrator shall evaluate these conditions and arrive on a decision. The Public Works Director or Town Administrator shall notify the Town Board and local media that a snow emergency exists. Storms of this severity may require the hiring of contractors to assist Town crews in plowing all streets in the Town.