LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — More than 24-hours before snow began to fall on Lee’s Summit on Wednesday night, the city’s snow management team was already out prepping the roads.
But now, their jobs will be easier because the city’s two dozen snow plows have been equipped with the Automated Vehicle Locator – or AVL – system.
“One of the things we were real concerned about is someone would call in, and say that their road had not been plowed,” said Lee’s Summit Operations Superintendent Shawn Graff. “At that point we’d have to send a supervisor to verify whether the road had been hit or not. With AVL, we can actually go in and see if the truck has been in that area and what they’ve been doing, if the snow plow was up, if the spreader was down. So it gives us comfort that we are hitting every street in town.”
The $35,000 upgrade also allows snow management within the home office to know where the trucks are at all times by logging online and looking at a real-time map.
“We’re here before the storm starts, we’re here after the storm ends. We’re working 24 hours a day to make sure that we make the streets safe,” said Graff.
The upgrade will help emergency crews if they need to get to a rural area that’s blocked by snow and ice. Instead of calling all of the snow plow operators to find their exact locations, now all management has to do is check the system to see who is closest to help.
To further help, Lee’s Summit snow management asks that people who park on the street move their cars before the plows come through. It will allow the plow operators to more effectively remove the snow, while also preventing potential damage to vehicles.