The city's pre-treatment process entails salting by spreading rock salt on roads in anticipation of and/or under certain weather conditions. The city sees an average of 30,000 tons of rock salt each winter. In extreme cold, the effectiveness of salt decreases so the City is also monitoring temperature conditions when deciding whether pre-treatment is appropriate.
During a prolonged snowfall event, plows focus on clearing primary and service roads for emergency services. Plow trucks clear high volume roadways, emergency routes, areas of significant grade change/hills, and streets surrounding major destinations first. In Central New York, the city county, and state governments work together to clear highways and service roads. If you have questions about a major service road or roads near (but outside of) city limits, be sure to contact your neighboring town, village, or Onondaga County.
Once plow trucks clear high-volume roadways and emergency routes, they are able to enter neighborhood side streets. Residential corridors can expect to see plows after the high-volume and emergency routes are clear and persistent snow has stopped. Please be patient while crews work to provide clearing services across more than 400 miles of city streets.
Click below to view our plow map below to track real-time road conditions before heading out in snowy weather.