Nashville mayor defends city's snow response
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Snow last week in East Nashville. Photo: Courtesy of Forrest Havens
Record-setting snowfall, ice a few days later and the subsequent deep freeze combined to create a week of frustration in Davidson County.
- In an interview with Axios, Mayor Freddie O'Connell defended the city's response to last week's snow event.
What he's saying: By late morning Sunday, Nashville's main roads were mostly clear, but subdivisions, side streets and small connecting roads remained iced over.
- O'Connell said his overall assessment is that Metro "did the best we could with what we've got."
Why it matters: Although snowstorms of this scale are rare in Nashville, top Metro officials say the city learned how to better respond the next time it happens.
- Some of those improvements were already in the works, O'Connell tells Axios.
The big picture: The city currently has 32 plow trucks, the mayor's spokesperson told Axios. "Twenty-eight of them were out there operating continuously for more than a week," O'Connell said.
- "There is literally no way we could have moved faster, given our current equipment and personnel devoted to winter weather," he said. "We know how hard this has been for working families. The message really is, I totally understand your frustration because I've been there before."
- He said roads were treated with snow-melting solutions before the storm hit.
Zoom in: O'Connell said money has already been approved to purchase 37 new plow trucks. A national backlog caused by supply chain interruptions has prevented that order from going through sooner, he says.
- He also said the city is considering real-time online tracking of which streets have been plowed.
Flashback: Beginning Sunday, Jan. 14, Nashville received 7.6 inches of snow last week, which is more than the city gets in a typical winter, according to the National Weather Service. Road conditions improved before Thursday, when rain added a glaze of ice covering road surfaces.
- That was followed by several days of bone-chilling cold with lows in the single digits.
- "The double-whammy [of snow and deep freeze] really tripped us up," he said. "You add freezing rain on top of it, and it's not an easy cleanup."
Yes, but: The city's response has drawn grumblings from residents. During a transportation committee meeting Monday, Metro Council members pushed city officials to plow more side streets.
- Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston tells Axios she wants Metro to revisit its snowplow map. The city prioritizes the streets it designates as primary and secondary streets for pre-storm treatment and plowing. But Johnston says some roads not on the list in her Crieve Hall-area district should be prioritized. O'Connell also raised the issue of "revisiting and refining" the snowplow routes.
- Johnson also wants city departments to review their own responses to the storm to see where Metro can improve the next time such a storm hits.
The bottom line: "I've received a lot of frustration from people," Johnston says. "We may not experience these kinds of storms often, but there's always more we can do to be better prepared the next time."