In Oak Lawn, Every Quadrant Has Its Own Plow

The 2014 snow events brought the usual complaints from Oak Lawn residents stating that the plows were getting to their streets fast enough, as well as comparisons to other communities where you could “see the blacktop.”

About ten inches of snow fell on Oak Lawn, at a pace of two-inches per hour, making conditions difficult for public works’ full fleet of 13 plows and six trucks to stay ahead.

To better understand the village’s snow and salting procedures, Oak Lawn is divided into 13 quadrants, where each quadrant has its own plow, supplemented by six trucks equipped with plow blades.

Following is Oak Lawn’s SNOW ATTACK plan:

• The village’s main arterial streets, including 95th Street (U.S. 12-20) and Cicero Avenue (U.S. 50) get plowed and/or salted first;

• followed by Main snow routes

• Minor snow routes

• All other village streets and alleys.

• 103rd Street from Cicero to Central Avenue (Cook County);

• Central and Ridgeland Avenues, from 87th to 111th Streets (Cook County);

• All of 87th Street that runs through Oak Lawn, on the south side of the street (Cook County)

• Pulaski Road between 93rd and 111th Streets, which gets plowed by IDOT;

• Harlem Avenue (IDOT).

The village has designated snow routes, on which cars are prohibited from parking after one-inch of snowfall.

In addition, there is an odd-even ordinance in place for side streets. If a snow emergency is enacted, cars may not park on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered calendar days, and visa versa.

We also included the Village of Oak Lawn's snow brochure with this story.