Complaints about street plowing come with the first snow and often last much longer than the storm.

In Bethlehem, even with an army of 48 plows, snow inevitably finds holes in the operation. During heavy storms, streets turn white again as snow builds back up after plows go down the street. Other times, the plows leave behind a frozen layer that gets compacted by cars and is harder to scoop up. And yes, in probably the ultimate aggravation, sometimes plows miss streets.

Even before the first snowstorm of 2012, Bethlehem got a preview of coming complaints this month when Nancy Matuczinski complained to City Council about, among other things, snow removal. She cautioned the city against removing chairs that residents use to save parking spots they dig out themselves.

"If the city of Bethlehem did their job correctly, we wouldn't have to put buckets and chairs and save spaces that we shovel," she said.

Allentown and Bethlehem officials are hoping a new technology they're introducing this year will help turn perceptions like Matuczinski's. In an effort to clear the streets more efficiently, the two cities are launching, arguably, the most drastic change to their snow-plowing operations in years: an automatic vehicle location system.

Using technology that became mainstream a decade ago in navigational devices for motorists, Allentown and Bethlehem are installing GPS sensors in their plows to track them on an electronic map that shows where they are and where they've been.

The units, which can cost between $240 and $1,000 apiece, carry detailed information such as the speed of the truck, whether the plow is up or down and whether it released ice-fighting substances like salt or brine. All the data are stored for more than a month, allowing officials to assess performance, map out better plans for future snowstorms and defend their performance to critics.

"It allows the city to monitor in detail the winter plowing and brining operations," said Michael Alkhal, Bethlehem's director of public works. "It has the potential to reduce the time it takes to get the job done."

Allentown and Bethlehem are joining a growing number of cities across the country that use a high-tech method of performing one of the most basic city services. From Kansas City, Mo., to Buffalo, N.Y., larger municipalities have adapted the satellite technology to track their snow-plowing.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation added the automated vehicle location system to its operations years ago. Places like Chicago and New York City are even putting those maps online so residents can follow the plows as they clear the streets — valuable information if residents have to hit the road.

Tom Ridgick, who manages Bethlehem's fleet, said the city can use the information on the map to redirect its plows to trouble spots and respond to emergencies quicker than before.

The global positioning satellite devices send information to computer screens where supervisors can alter their plans if necessary.

"You can quickly look at a map and see what streets still need to be plowed," he said.

The streets are color-coded on the map. In Bethlehem, for instance, purple designates the unplowed roads, green for plowed and red for streets that were plowed more than four hours ago.

And the mere fact that a plow truck drives down the street won't necessarily make those purple lines turn green. The sensors in the truck will only emit that signal if the plows are lowered, indicating that a metal blade is scraping the snow down to the macadam. The transmitters also relay such information as whether the salt spreader and brine pump are on, allowing officials to track which streets were pre-treated.

City workers are quick to point out that this year will be the first time the systems have been used in earnest and warn not to expect dramatic changes, at least at first. Every storm is different, and some storms will be easier to clean up than others.

Sure, Alkhal said, the system will be able to identify plowers that veer off their routes or take long coffee breaks. But it will also be able to show that the plowers have done their jobs. All too often, he said, residents call to complain that their street wasn't plowed but in fact it was — the snow just covered it up quickly.

"This protects our guys," Alkhal said.

Allentown last year installed the devices on a dozen vehicles and did a test run for its street sweepers and garbage trucks.

Craig Messinger, Allentown streets superintendent, said the system worked so well that the city is nearly tripling the units to 35 vehicles. He said there's a potential to save fuel through more efficient operations.

"Quite honestly, we've seen it — the idling isn't there," Messinger said. "We saw that right away."

While this winter will be the first major test of the GPS-monitored system, officials in both cities are looking at other possibilities for the automatic vehicle location system — for collecting leaves, painting street lines and putting up Christmas decorations.

Bethlehem

Miles of streets: 250

Vehicles equipped GPS: 75 (48 plows)

2011 start-up cost: $100,000

2012 cost to add more vehicles on the system: $2,496

Source: Bethlehem officials, city budget