With winter around the corner and the job of redrawing city snow removal routes incomplete, the city of Pittsburgh official assigned to that task has applied for disability benefits, leaving the effort adrift.

Jeff Koch, a former city councilman hired in January as a special streets program supervisor, applied for benefits for a non-work-related disability effective Sept. 27 and has been taking vacation and personal time while the city's insurer reviews his claim.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in February made improved snow removal a priority, after days of icy roads left him frosted. He was hoping Mr. Koch's work and the promotion of Rob Kaczorowski to deputy director of operations would improve the city's effort in the coming snow season.

Mr. Koch said yesterday that his reason for applying for disability was personal. He described nine months of challenges, like learning geographic information systems software.

His bosses "threw me a [350-page] book, that thick, and told me to learn it on my own," he said, adding that it can take months of classroom learning to master GIS. He learned it, and then set about going block-by-block through the city's streets, trying to determine whether each one was on a snow removal route.

He said the city was slow to buy software to help with the job.

Public Works Director Guy Costa said the effort wasn't complete but was under way.

"We are making sure that if a street was missed [and not] on a route, that it is included on a route," he said. "I need to re-evaluate the staff to try to finish this work."

He said he may have to add the route revision job to an existing employee's duties.

Mr. Koch said the job is "a much longer process than I think people expected."

After ensuring that all streets are on routes, the city will need to figure out how to adjust for the depth of snow, driver experience and the locations and hours of operation of various salt storage depots, he said.