From the bluff at Prospect Hill, the whole of the Cedar River valley spreads out below Waterloo, roofs and rail lines and the two halves of the city stitched together by bridges, and after a snow the view turns uniformly white before the plows have made their first pass. Waterloo Tree Care Pros works the streets that climb toward that overlook, driveways set at enough of a grade that a plowed surface can turn slick again just from gravity once the afternoon sun softens it. The hill neighborhoods catch wind differently than the valley floor does, funneling drifts into the same low spots along each block, so the crew learns which driveways will need a second look before the evening freeze. Walks get opened the full width of each block, driveways get scraped to bare pavement on the level stretches and sanded on the steeper ones, and salt goes down last, once the crew is sure no more melt is coming that day. By the time the valley lights come on below the hill, the streets up top sit plowed and hold their footing against the grade.