you know i have to say i don't understand why they don't do more plowing all the time and then salt? they salt three times some times....they salt while its snowing twice and then plow it later and salt again??? why not plow once and then salt? it would make the salt far more productive instead of making 3 inches of slush on the road for people to slide around in, that the city will then come back and plow out later. not sure if its just because i live near a highway but while clearing my own driveway i have watched trucks come by and salt and not 5 minutes later another truck comes by and plows it off the road and then it gets salted again...anyone else seen this done? happens here almost every time it snows. the city is doing a fair job of clearing as a whole but if its the budget they are worried about...perhaps they need to look more into how its being spent? how much are the plow truck drivers being paid to do it? and how qualified are they to do the job effectively and efficiently? IE not salting and the plowing it off 5 mins later? or skilled enough to know how to effectively plow instead of pushing the snow ten different directions until its finally off the road? but instead a few short passes to clear the road entirely. im not saying that the drivers do not deserve a fair wage...but how much is fair? ive heard too many rumors to know how much they make for sure...but its my understanding it pretty substantial.it just seems to me when i was younger the roads were a lot cleaner most of the time... maybe its just the way it has to be now...either way thanks for clearing the roads, now if you could just do something about the people who don't know how to drive in this weather :P

tomtiff- seems to me the same as what you said.

I think lately the city has been doing a fine job clearing the streets. Yeah, my street does not get clear ever and frankly I don't care. It makes people drive slow on my block then. I don't get it, people complain if they don't clear it enough but then complain when they are clearing it too much?

Kind of goes along with pdiamond,I live on Wright Road Near E. Milwaukee and on my way to the Athletic Club Monday Morning (8am) I passed four (4) City Trucks without plows, all they were doing was salting. The roads had an ample amount of snow on them. I am no Highway transportation sodium chloride specialist, but that salt being put down is most likely going to get removed when they come through in a couple of hours. Why not remove the snow that is down now and salt?

How about plowing??? Monday was terrible on all the main streets. Despite asking to stay off the roads-some cant! Trying to get up Court St. hill was a mess.

sannio, we no longer have slaves chipping salt out of mines with chisels. Plus, it was annoying when your money dissolved in a good rain.
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Salt use will tend to go up when you have a lot of freeze-thaw cycles, which creates icy layers that are harder for the plows to pick up. We're having a La Nina winter, a bit warmer and wetter on average, so more salt use can be expected.

Entire societies have been built based on the value of salt.
Roman soldiers were paid in salt.
There's even a phrase indicting a person value by saying he or she is "worth their salt".
Now we spread it on the ground with near impunity.
Funny how things change.

smacks of the jail moving prisoners into one unit for the media to prove overcrowding...the more salt and the more runs over well used roads the more proof of more money needed

i agree with the "dumps" of salt...every time they turn a corner it spills out of the truck and then over plowing on some streets and none on others

Don't know about the City of Janesville but Rock County's salt use has to be way up. I've drove over some piles of salt on County H that were taller than the snow drifts.

I'm with the city! A lot of "little" dustings and minor snowfalls that did not justify full snow removal (shovel). I have already went through more salt than last winter also!

As far as using more so far than a typical season-How about...they don't?

In spite of what the Director of Operations says, the next ounce of salt put on my street will be the first. Our street was a skating rink of sheer ice before New Years, and only the thaw allowed it to be drivable. Then 5-6 inches of snow in January before this snow and no salt, no plow. The worst was last Saturday, when main streets in town were horrible. Then what were the plows doing? Salting (but not plowing) side streets. Unbelievable. If a truck is out doing that, why not put the plow to the street surface and do something productive?

Our tax dollars at work!