When Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson announced a snow emergency on Thursday night, he said bringing in private snow removal teams would clear the city’s streets in 84 hours. That deadline has come and gone as of Monday, with large swaths of the city’s neighborhood streets untouched by municipal or private plows while the city has been walloped by another round of snow.
A second snowstorm dumped about 9 inches of additional snow on the city on Monday morning, bringing the snowfall over the last two weeks to nearly 40 inches, prompting another day of remote learning for schools, local and state government closures and continued suspension of the city’s People Mover bus service. According to the city’s snow removal plan, the snowfall triggers a new 84-hour window for clearing streets. That window resets with every additional 4 inches of snow.
Streets have been treacherous throughout the city. Even cleared arterial streets suffer from deep, icy ruts that have been difficult or even dangerous to navigate. Things have been far worse for pedestrians, who face the closure of bus service and uncleared sidewalks, forcing people to walk in the already-crowded streets.
According to the city’s residential snowplow status map, 32 residential sectors have been completed, four are in progress and 25 have yet to be started.
On social media, the Bronson administration boasted about the city focusing its efforts to help clear roads that are the responsibility of the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities. As many pointed out, most of the roads covered by the city’s expanded efforts rested in the generally more conservative South Anchorage.
The state of the city’s streets stands in stark contrast to a draft stump speech that was leaked to The Alaska Current, where Bronson planned to take credit for a revamped snow plan: “Our winters can be harsh, but our snow removal teams are harsher on the snow. We’ve made strides in efficiency, ensuring that every street is cleared, and every child can safely get to school.”
There are two main prongs of the city’s snow emergency declaration. The first allows the city to more aggressively ticket and tow cars in the way of snowplows (a stage three emergency, which has not been issued, could go as far as limiting driving altogether). The second measure is a broad suspension of the city’s procurement code that allows the city to quickly contract with private operators.
As of Friday night, the mayor inked three such contracts worth nearly $200,000, according to documents provided to The Alaska Current. The most significant contract is with McKenna Brothers Paving, worth $116,200 for up to seven days of plowing. McKenna Brothers are political allies of Bronson’s and played a key role in his 2021 election. They also were the go-to contractor during last year’s snowstorms. The other contracts went to Alaska Asphalt Services ($52,500) and Spernak ($17,500).
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.