Last week's blizzard was so bad, Pennington County highway superintendent Hiene Junge got stuck for the first time since moving here in 1995.

He blamed himself, saying he should have put on his chains right away like most of his employees did.

Junge told county commissioners Monday that county trucks had to pull eight or nine vehicles out of way last week to allow snow plows to move down the road. He suggested the county's snow removal policy needs a rule that covers those situations.

"Our biggest problem was people thinking they could get someplace and then got stuck in the middle of the road," he said. "Longview Road and Reservoir Road was blocked up so bad we had to go down state Highway 44 to Caputa, come back up the backside of the airport to get to Radar Hill Road and the subdivisions out there. We had a lot of people blocking the highway."

Just a few days removed from the major blizzard, the commission began reviewing the county's snow removal policy and talked Monday about implementing changes to address abandoned vehicles and the highway department's responses to sheriff's office calls.

Junge said although it was "a tough storm" crews just had some cleaning up left, including widening one-lane stretches in Rapid Valley.

"Thursday was bad. We went out at noon into the hills west of Rapid City and got started out in the valley. We couldn't get north of the interstate. We couldn't see. We tried twice Thursday afternoon and just quit."

Despite such conditions, Commissioner Nancy Trautman said that the no-travel advisories weren't as emphatic as they should have been to keep people off the roads during the storm.

"People just keep trying to go somewhere," she said. "It seems like we could do a little more."

Adopted in 1997, the county's current snow removal policy depends on the severity of the storm. In general, whenever there are icing conditions on asphalt roads, county trucks are out by 5 a.m. to sand intersections, curves and steep hills.

If it snows at least two inches, the county begins plowing and sanding all asphalt roads. At four inches or more, the county plows and sands all roads, including gravel roads. The county highway superintendent, or his designee, initiates the county's response to a snow event.

County highway workers respond to requests by the sheriff's department for sanding or plowing during normal work shifts, nights and weekends. The commission is considering revising this portion of the policy.

Junge said those calls frequently are to sand an area where someone was driving too fast for the conditions and left the road. He said overtime costs - about $46,000 per year on average - could be reduced if callouts were to only clear the road of snow.

"If they can get through, we're not going to go sand just because somebody was speeding. That's something that could be looked at," Junge said.

The commission will talk about the snow policy in December at date to be announced.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com