COEUR d'ALENE — Snow already hitting the ground in Kootenai County this week coincided with the city of Coeur d'Alene finalizing plans for plowing its roads.

Each year, the city's street department formulates a plan of attack to clear snow from more than 250 center lane miles of streets in Coeur d'Alene. Once snow depth in the city reaches a maximum of 4 to 5 inches, or is at a level of 2.5 inches with more snowfall expected, city crews step into action to clear the roads.

"The overall objective is to continue to provide citizens with state-of-the-art plow operations and provide unrestricted road surfaces," said Tim Martin, street and engineering services director. "Our completion goal for citywide plowing is 30 hours, down from 38 hours two years ago."

In the past, Martin said, residents have raised concerns about the time it takes to start plowing neighborhood streets. Since the city considers heavy snowfall an emergency situation, street department personnel must set up a prioritized system for plowing.

The priority list is as follows:

1.) Hospital access and emergency vehicle access areas

2.) Major arterials

3.) Dangerous hills and curves

4.) Secondary arterials

5.) School bus routes

6.) Improved residential streets

7.) Cul-de-sacs

Snow will not be plowed from alleys. In addition, certain streets have been designated as "sledding hills" and will not be plowed unless they are deemed impassable.

While citywide plowing takes place, officials have asked the public to give street personnel the right-of-way as they work and to not park cars along major snow routes whenever possible.

For more information on the city's snow plan, as well as tips on how residents can help make the plowing done by city crews safer and quicker, visit www.cdaid.org/601/departments/streets/snow.