Last Thursday’s snow-covered roads in the late afternoon and evening shined a light on what plowing will look like on the Haines Highway and other state roads if the borough experiences a normal winter.

On Thursday Dec. 5, a foot of snow had fallen in town, according to NOAA data. Because the Alaska Department of Transportation cut overtime hours for its workers, plow truck drivers were off work Thursday by the time parents were picking their children up from the Haines School.

Haines DOT station foreman Matt Boron said drivers typically start plowing around 5 a.m. so that they can clear Main Street and other high traffic areas before the morning commute. Their eight-hour day typically ends at 1 p.m., and there’s usually not enough hours remaining to plow on Saturday and Sunday.

“Folks in Haines haven’t seen the budget cuts when it comes to snow plowing the last couple years because we’ve had no snow,” Boron said. “I don’t think anyone has really asked “Where’s DOT?” because we, in the past couple years, have just had no snow. We get into a more typical winter when we see a lot of snow, then it’s going to look a little different.”

Boron said two winters ago overtime was restricted, and last winter was almost entirely cut. All of Southeast shares one budget, and one pool of overtime hours. Boron doesn’t have a fixed amount of overtime hours to work with, but relies on his boss to tell him what percentage has been spent.

Designating overtime for plowing, Boron said, is a tough judgement call. If he plowed on a Thursday morning, for example, he likely won’t plow in the afternoon in order to save overtime for the weekend if necessary.

“My overtime is severely restricted,” Boron said. “It’s very unlikely I would do overtime plowing on the afternoon on a work week. I would save it for the weekend.”

He said he’d never use overtime on lower priority roads like Mud Bay, Small Tracts or Lutak past the ferry terminal.

Larry and Jeanne Beck drive and rely on the school’s bus to transport their four children to school and back from their home at 25 Mile Haines Highway. Larry Beck said DOT staff do a great job when they plow in the morning, but the afternoon school bus route should also be a priority for the state.

“When it starts snowing and keeps going…it will get dangerous,” Beck said. “I would think, if conditions warrant, that they’d have a couple bucks in reserve, or at least I would hope they do, even if they have to take it out of the governor’s flower garden budget.”

DOT public information officer Sam Dapcevich said there is “no emergency funding for routine weather event response and we are expected to balance our budget within the amount that has been appropriated.”

Haines’ road maintenance budget has seen a 13.5 percent decrease during the past five years, and overtime has been reduced regionwide. “We limit overtime on priority two roads and perform no overtime on priority three and four roads,” Dapcevich said. “The Haines Highway is the only priority level one roadway in Haines, and Lutak Road, out to the ferry terminal, is priority level two.

State workers plow state-owned roads according to priority. Priority one, defined as high-volume, high-speed highways and major community routes, includes the Haines Highway and Main Street. Plow truck drivers will clear the road within 12 hours of a winter storm, according ADOT’s website.

Priority level two roads in Haines, which may take up to 18 hours to clear, include Lutak Road to the ferry terminal, Union Street and Airport Road.

Priority level three, which can take up to 24 hours to clear, include Lutak Road north of the ferry terminal, Mud Bay and Small Tracts roads, Front Street and Piedad Road.

Priority level four, which can take up to 30 hours to clear, include Sawmill Road, Old Haines Highway, Beach Road, Allen/Menaker Road and Comstock Road.

The Haines Borough has four vehicles used for plowing. Each truck plows a different section of town. Roads in each section are given a priority level. A map and list of the roads can be found on the public facilities page at hainesalaska.gov.