Novosibirsk Road Reform Fails to Clear Snow

In Novosibirsk, the effectiveness of an administrative reform that was supposed to change the approach to cleaning the street and road network is being discussed. Locally, they supposedly better know where additional capacity is needed, what the need for equipment or personnel is. But the results so far leave much to be desired: Novosibirsk residents daily complain about poor street cleaning of snow. Parliamentarians suggested the city adjust the work or admit the mistake. Details — in the NGS article.

«Mistakes Happen to Everyone»

At the end of 2024, an administrative reform was completed in Novosibirsk, as a result of which the powers to maintain the street and road network, along with the road maintenance enterprises (D.E.U.), were transferred from the city hall«s Department of Road and Improvement Complex to district administrations. The question of the correctness of this decision was raised at the transport committee of the Legislative Assembly of Novosibirsk Oblast on January 20.

Speaking before deputies, First Deputy Mayor of Novosibirsk Iosif Kodalayev admitted that street cleaning is among the «top-3 city problem issues».

According to his information, by the start of the current autumn-winter season, the Novosibirsk D.E.U. had 535 units of specialized road equipment. At the same time, over two years, with support from the regional government, nearly 170 units of equipment were updated.

«At the moment, readiness is estimated at around 94–95%, which is a fairly high percentage. Every day we send out up to 300 units in the day shift and up to 400 units in the night shift, — Iosif Kodalayev reported. — To say whether it’s a lot or a little… No, it’s certainly not enough when we see such heavy precipitation and sharp temperature swings. Therefore, we compensate for the equipment shortage by attracting contractors, who are mainly engaged in snow removal.»

At the same time, the city has no money to purchase new equipment, and updating the fleet will be possible only «upon reaching the limits of budget allocations from the regional budget of Novosibirsk Oblast».

This winter, at least 20,000 tons of snow are removed daily from Novosibirsk streets. The main emphasis is on night shifts, because during the day the city has big traffic jams and roads are parked up. The struggle with «snow-covered cars» — a separate issue that the city hall is trying to solve today.

Commenting on Iosif Kodalayev«s report, chairman of the transport committee Valery Ilyenko nodded toward Moscow, where 130,000 workers and 15,000 units of equipment came out to clean after heavy snowfalls. Of course, Novosibirsk is still far from Moscow, he admitted, but he would like to strive for that. He also turned to the topic of the administrative reform that had been carried out.

«About three years ago, an experiment was conducted at the city hall, and the powers of the D.E.U. were transferred to the Dzerzhinsky district. I know the result exactly: in terms of cleaning, it was one of the worst districts in Novosibirsk. Right? Right. You, by carrying out this administrative reform, have done what was done in the Dzerzhinsky district, — the deputy sharply commented. — I’m not asking for an answer, just thinking out loud: did you do it right or not? Mistakes happen to everyone. Look, consult with specialists, maybe they’ll adjust something somewhere.»

«Efficiency and Responsiveness»

In response to a query from NGS, the Novosibirsk city hall reported that currently the issue of transferring the road maintenance enterprises back to the control of the department is not being considered.

The response also stated that the reform allowed «to increase the efficiency and responsiveness of road cleaning in the districts, as well as to ensure a comprehensive approach to the improvement and maintenance of district territories».

Commenting on his speech at the committee in a conversation with NGS, Valery Ilyenko explained that he did not mean the necessity to return everything to how it was.

«There’s no need to return it back, we need to streamline everything. There must be a unified approach. They should, and I think they will, work out unified algorithms, unified requirements. For example, there shouldn’t be a situation where in one district they sprinkle salt, and in another «Bionord» », — explained the parliamentarian his position.

In his view, after the reform the situation improved in several districts (he did not name the districts), but mostly remained the same. That is why it is necessary to continue improvement measures.

The deputy added that work is also needed to bring all equipment into normative condition and provide decent wages to workers. But to do this, the issue of financing must be resolved.

«There Have Been Even Heavier Snowfalls»

Alexander Ilyinykh, who headed the D.E.U. in the Sovetsky district and D.E.U.-1 for several years, admitted in a conversation with an NGS correspondent that, in his opinion, the decision to transfer road maintenance enterprises under the direction of district administrations was erroneous. He recalled that the first D.E.U. to come under the wing of the administration was precisely in the Sovetsky district, and only later was the Dzerzhinsky district.

«Naturally, there should be a specialized department, there should be specialists in this department who would manage the directors of the D.E.U. across the city, and everything would be unified. But now each head of administration has their own requirements for maintaining the district, — he explained.

Another NGS source, who previously worked at one of the Novosibirsk D.E.U., believes that the administrative reform was carried out in vain, if only because of the weakening of the city«s control over the spending of funds. This affects the quality of road cleaning.

«Have you ever seen the road center lines cleaned so that the lanes are visible? Since the beginning of winter, I haven«t seen that. That»s the main separation of carriageways. And then they say, «Why do we have head-on collisions?» Well, that«s why, — the NGS interlocutor is sure.

However, he also questioned the effectiveness of some decisions in the past. In particular, he recalled how instead of buying separate so-called «sand spreaders» (to sprinkle roads) and separate dump trucks (to remove snow), the city bought expensive combined road machines that combine both functions. He also believes that Novosibirsk should buy not sweeping «Scandias» with a trailer, but vacuum trucks, like in Moscow.

He also drew attention to the problem of a shortage of snow dumps in the city, which increases the «transport shoulder» for dump trucks loaded with snow. This is especially critical during the day when the city is stuck in traffic jams — this leads to excess fuel consumption. For example, the NGS source claims, snow is transported to the snow dump in the Pervomaisky district from the Central and Zheleznodorozhny districts.

But the main problem, in his opinion, is staffing. Although the city hall reported that road workers are lacking only in four districts, in fact the staff size, he believes, should be much higher. And for this, comfortable working conditions need to be created for people.

«You need to know your people, understand who is capable of what, and not drive them into unbearable conditions. Otherwise, there was already a proposal to deprive those foremen and drivers who go to lunch of their bonuses: «let them eat in the cabin,» they say. And where can they even wash their hands?» — the NGS interlocutor was indignant.

In November 2025, NGS reported that janitors, machine operators, cleaners, and other employees of the municipal institution «Pervomaiskoye» (old name — D.E.U.-5) were asked to move out of their «illegal» dormitory practically onto the street.