Chicago is Taking on Winter Snow with WebTech Wireless Technology

By: Eric Wilson, November 19th, 2009

This article, highlighting some of the features and benefits of our technology in the area of winter snow removal, recently appeared in the Chicago Sun Times newspaper:

City using technology to remove snow, avoid blowing budget
(Original Sun Times post here)
November 12, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN, City Hall Reporter

How do you avoid a blizzard of budget-busting overtime and still remove the snow from Chicago streets?

By using technology to measure and improve productivity.

Today, Mayor Daley unveiled plans to put GPS, high-tech sensors and the city’s vast network of surveillance cameras to work to get the snow off Chicago streets.

Sensors on the trucks will tell camera-monitoring supervisors how much salt is being spread, how many tons are still in the truck and whether the blade on a plow is up or down on the street clearing snow.

And by using safety cameras, the city will be able to track the movement of snow plows without putting nearly as many supervisors on the street.

“We’re gonna knock our supervision down from 30 supervisors on the street down to 10,” said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Tom Byrne.

“Then, we’ve got a schedule made out for every snowstorm and we’ll have our exempt members [who] don’t get paid overtime … working with me on the street assessing and helping foremen on the street do their jobs.”

Daley said it’s critical to keep close tabs on how much salt is being spread.

“Why do they put more salt on one block than the other block? How much did you put in the intersection? … If you put it all in one block, you have to go down and pick [up] more salt,” he said.

Why the efficiency expert’s approach to snow removal?

“Accountability. You need more and more technology. That’s where we’re all going: Fire, Police, Building Department, Sanitation. Technology is here to stay. You have to use it. … It’s a cost factor,” the mayor said.

“You use cameras for all operations of the city. … It’s not used for one purpose for one department. It’s used for fire, police, sanitation. Everything possible, you use that camera for. You can’t say, ‘Those are the Police Department’s cameras and no one else’s.”

Last winter, Daley raised the roof after then- Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi spent $490,000 on snow removal during a relatively minor, first-of-the-season snowstorm.

Picardi wore the jacket — and was ultimately replaced by Byrne — even though a City Council rebellion subsequently forced Daley to reverse a cost-cutting policy that saw City Hall plow side streets during normal working hours to reduce overtime and skip side streets altogether after minor snowstorms.

This winter, it’ll be a different story even after the city failed in its effort to privatize side street snow removal.

“There will be overtime,” Byrne said. “The sooner we can get trucks off the arterials into the side-streets, we’ll do that. We can also look at trying to pull some trucks off the mains and getting ‘em into side-streets as we’re still doing mains, depending on the severity of the snow.”

Daley added, “Everybody prays for a mild winter — not only for snow [removal costs], but for the safety of people.”

The City of Chicago has been a WebTech Wireless customer since 2003, and currently has over 2,500 Locators installed in vehicles used by its various public works departments, including vehicles operating at O’Hare International Airport, where WebTech Locators transmit critical location data to airport personnel every ten seconds to alert them to runway incursions and security breaches.

Additionally, WebTech’s recent acquisition of Grey Island, and its InterFleet suite of solutions for government, enhance our offering to cities like Chicago that require innovative technology to manage and improve government services such as snow removal. To find out more, please visit our webpage or contact us directly.