(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The City of Colorado Springs’ Public Works Department held what it refers to as “Snow School” Wednesday, Sept. 18 as a way for crews to prepare for upcoming winter road conditions.

“Snow school is set up simply as a refresher for experienced [employees] and also as education for new employees,” said Clint Brown, Street Operations Manager.

The two-day course is held every year and allows for City crew members to partake in a refresher on driving snowplows, repairing equipment, and taking the blades on and off of the trucks.

“So, we go through all of our equipment through the summer months and make sure that everything’s going to be ready to go for our winter operations,” said Corey Farkas, Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division Manager.

This year, 130 City employees took part in the training. 100 will advance to be this year’s designated snowplow drivers. According to city staff, when trucks are called out in adverse weather conditions, 50 will be on shift for 12 hours, then the other 50 will be on shift for another 12 hours alternating until conditions on the roads are clear.

The city said it readjusts its winter road map plans every year based on the prior year’s response. This year, the main roads will be prioritized first, then secondary roads leading to main roads, followed by neighborhood areas.

“The primary roadways are really going to be our main arterials in town. So, Academy Boulevard, Woodmen, Union, these large arterials that are getting the majority of the people where they need to go,” Farkas said. “A lot of our secondary roadways are going to be those main connector roadways that are in neighborhoods, getting people from their residential street to those large arterials.”