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<br />OOMl43 <br /> <br />Estimated total removal costs per employee range from $1,276 in <br />Eagle County in a winter of average snowfall to $11,444 in San Juan <br />County in a winter of high snowfall. Estimates are generally highest in <br />winters of high snowfall and lowest in winters of low snowfall. <br />Exceptions occurred in Eagle, Lake and Ouray counties: in Eagle and <br />Lake, estimated total costs in the average-snowfall winters examined are <br />lower than those in the low-snowfall winters examined; in Ouray, the <br />estimated total cost in the average-snowfall winter examined is slightly <br />higher than that in the high-snowfall winter examined. These exceptions <br />occurred because the low-snowfall winters in Eagle and Lake and the <br />average-snowfall winter in Ouray had many small storms; small amounts of <br />snow require roore time per inch to remove than large amounts. <br /> <br />Estimates of total costs per employee in mountainous districts <br />average 135 percent, 169 percent, and 173 percent of the estimates in <br />non-'mountainous districts in the winters of high, average, and low <br />snowfall examined, respectively. These higher costs result, in part, <br />fram the greater effort required to clear steep, winding roads. Another <br />reason is that roore snow uSua.l:ly falls at higher elevations: snowfall <br />recorded in average-snowfall winters in mountainous districts, averaged <br />179 percent of that recorded in non-mountainous districts. Klazura <br />(1982) has shown that winter precipitation in the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin is related highly to elevation--more snow usually falls at higher <br />sites than at lower sites. <br /> <br />Costs of ReiOOving Augmented Snow <br /> <br />EStimated costs of removing snow increase when recorded snow <br />amounts are augmented. Increases in costs, shown in Tables 2 through 12 <br />and sumnarized in Table 13, range from 0.8 percent in Garfield County, <br />Rifle district, in a low-snowfall winter, to 12.6 percent in Lake County <br />in a high-snowfall winter. !he average cost increase, over all counties <br />studied, is 6.1 percent in winters of high and average snowfall, and 4.9 <br />percent in winters of low snowfall. Increases in snow amounts are also <br />sumnarized in Table 13 to allow comparison of snow and cost increases. <br />InCreases in costs per employee are shown in Table 14. <br /> <br />-30- <br />