Common Council

Changes to the Salt Routes in District 12

Hi Neighbors, 

The salt routes that loop through your district have been shortened.

This means fewer streets in your district will be salted and plowed each time it snows.

These adjustments are not budget related. The Street Department made this change after careful evaluation of the existing routes to find areas that no longer meet the standards of being a salt route. They also made temporary adjustments in response to pandemic-induced changes at the Madison School District and Madison Metro. Salt route reductions due to MMSD virtual school and Metro routing changes will be restored when students return to in-person class, and when bus service returns to these roads.

The roads that are no longer designated as salt routes will be plowed like other residential streets. This means instead of getting plowed and salted during every snow event, they will be plowed when three or more inches of snow have accumulated on the roadways. This is the standard we follow for all residential streets of Madison.

The changes to the salt routes are citywide. Virtually every aldermanic district is affected.

The temporary and permanent contractions of the salt routes will yield significant salt application savings this winter.  All of the changes combined result in a roughly 7% reduction of the mileage covered by salt routes. Using the salt application rate, the Street department expects to keep nearly 15 tons of salt per snowstorm off our roads and out of our water. By winter's end, these changes will let us keep hundreds of tons of salt off the roads and out of our environment.

What Streets in Your District Will No Longer be Salted

Permanent Removals

The below listed streets will be permanently removed from the salt route network. They will no longer receive salt, and they will not be plowed until three or more inches of snow has accumulated on these streets.

Hoffman Street from Anderson Street to Kinsman Boulevard
Wright Street from Kinsman Boulevard to Pierstorff Street
Kinsman Boulevard from Hoffman Street to Wright Street
Bartillon Drive from Kinsman Boulevard 
Darwin Road from Packers Avenue to International Lane

Temporary Removal Due to No In-Person Classes at Madison Metro School District

The below listed streets will be temporarily removed from the salt route network. They will return to the salt route level of service when in-person classes resume. Until then, these streets will be treated like other residential roadways and only plowed when three or more inches of snow have accumulated on the roads.

Ruskin Street from Aberg Avenue to Schlimgen Avenue
Sixth Street from Packers Avenue to East Johnson Street

Want to Know More?

If you would like to dig in a little more, on the City's winter website. City have additional information about our strategy for plowing the roads as well as our full snow and ice procedures explained. 

If you have more questions then please contact:

Bryan Johnson

City of Madison Streets Division

Recycling Coordinator/Public Information Officer

Office: 608-267-2626