The Alaskan Interior has seen above average amounts of snowfall this winter, leading to mounds of snow along the roadways, some of them blocking bus stops.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Interior of Alaska has seen above average amounts of snowfall this winter, leading to mounds of snow along the roadways.Randolph Bowell, rider with the MACS Transit System explained, “It makes it so that I have to stand in the street to ride the bus because I can’t get over the mound of snow that’s been piled at the bus stop sign where the schedule is displayed.”
According to Bowell, the community’s Van Tran system isn’t enough. “Realistically, people need to go whenever they need to go no matter what. You don’t always know when you have to be somewhere. Sometimes, it’s spur of the moment.” Plowing of Interior roadways, including bus stops, is split between the Cities of Fairbanks and North Pole and the Alaska Department of Transportation .
Danielle Tessen with the DOT says several factors go into the time it takes for the department to plow the bus stops under its control. “These stops are prioritized based on community need. The department works with different advocacy groups. They tell us which routes have the most people on them, so basically we can adjust the way we clean up the bus pullouts based on which ones are used most frequently.
Meanwhile, the DOT is also experiencing a current staffing shortage. According to Tessen, “We have a 20% vacancy rate right now, which is pretty impactful to our crews who are responding to these storms.”Copyright 2022 KTVF. All rights reserved.
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