Borough snowplow tracking now live

What you need to know:

• A new tool allowing many Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents to track the progress of snowplows in their neighborhoods is now live.
•  The online tracker uses color-coded lines to show plowing status and highlights issues reported by residents. The map is reset after each weather event. 
• The tracking is available in about half of the region’s road service areas. It will be available in all areas starting next winter. It can be viewed online. 

PALMER — A new tool allowing many Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents to track the progress of snowplows in their neighborhoods is now live.

The borough’s winter road maintenance dashboard enables residents in about half of the area’s 16 Road Service Areas (RSAs) to see if a plow has been through their neighborhood during a winter weather event.

The public tracker updates via GPS through a cellular signal, with data posted either on a 15-minute delay or when the plow operator regains service, officials said. The delay is intended to protect operators’ safety by not actively broadcasting their exact location, said Chad Fry, the borough’s operations and maintenance manager.

Hosted on the borough’s mapping website, the tracker uses color-coded lines to indicate whether snow removal is pending, completed within the last 24 hours, or older. It also highlights plowing-related issues flagged by residents using the borough’s problem reporting tool.

Officials reset the map after each weather event, clearing all progress lines and reported issues, Fry said.

The tracking feature was added to road service contracts that were rewritten and rebid this year as part of a series of updates. Remaining contracts will include the requirement starting with the 2025–26 winter season, officials said.

Tracking is currently mandatory under nine RSA contracts: 9 (Midway), 14 (Fairview), 17 (Knik), 20 (Greater Willow), 25 (Bogard), 28 (Gold Trail), 21 (Big Lake), 27 (Meadow Lakes), and 29 (Greater Talkeetna). Of these, two – 28 (Gold Trail) and 27 (Meadow Lakes) – are not yet online.

Three areas -- 15 (Caswell), 16 (South Colony), and 19 (Lazy Mountain) -- show tracking even though it is not required because the contractor, McKenna Brothers, also holds contracts that require tracking and has implemented the feature on most equipment instead of limiting it to mandatory areas, Fry said.

Tracking is not available within Houston, Wasilla and Palmer city limits because those streets are not managed by the borough. 

Other contract updates this year include removing berms left near driveways during plowing in RSAs 9 (Midway) and 14 (Fairview). Officials selected these areas for the service based on its cost to the borough.

Residents can report plowing or service issues through the borough’s problem reporter website, Fry said.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at abushatz@matsusentinel.com.