BILLINGS — The Billings Streets Division is still hard at work, cleaning up after the first winter storm of the year.
Plows were rolling around Billings Tuesday, picking up the remaining snow piles after pouring the salt and sand combination on the streets.
Watch this video to see the clean-up:
But before the roads could be cleared, many residents, like Jackson Devinna, were forced to relearn how to handle the winter conditions.
"It was packed with ice and snow," Devinna said Tuesday morning. "I had to kick my jeep over into four wheel drive and figure out how to do this all over again."
Devinna felt like the city could've planned a little bit better for the storm.
"They probably could've been a little better prepared," Devinna said. "But, you know, they don't have a million different trucks to be everywhere at once."
Street Traffic Division Manager Derick Miller admitted that his group had planned for less snowfall.
"We were anticipating two inches of snow," Miller said. "Obviously, we got a lot more than that."
Miller said that the extra snowfall forced them to change their plans from just pouring salt and sand to bringing out the plow trucks. He also said that the quick drop in weather turned the slushy roads into icy ones quickly.
"It froze over quickly," Miller said. "We like to say it was a flash freeze."
Still, Miller said they adapted quickly, responding to more than 1,200 miles of city streets.
"Trucks are out responding instantly," Miller said. "It just takes us a while to get everywhere."
Miller said that certain roads are prioritized more than others. He said that Zimmerman Trail and Skyway Drive are usually cleaned first, followed closely by busy streets including 24th Street West, Grand Avenue and King Avenue.
"Those roads that are 35 miles per hour and have a lot of twists and turns in them, we try to hit those right away," Miller said. "Then we try to react to the most people we can as quickly as possible."
Miller admitted that it isn't a perfect science and that his crew will do their best dealing with the Montana weather.
"The weather around here is horribly hard to predict," Miller said. "We do the best we can."
It's an effort appreciated by drivers like Devinna, who said it's just that time of year.
"It's Montana," Devinna said. "It snows. We know it snows, so it's kind of like, we should be prepared for this."
