Do you ever wonder what goes on this time of year with
public works? The mowing is done. Parks are closed for the season and road
construction comes to a near halt. What
you may not think about is the large amount of preparation that is accomplished
with the change of seasons.
To start with, road construction season really doesn’t come
to an end until much later in the season.
Starting with paved roads they need to make sure the potholes have been
filled. The manholes in areas with
sewers need to be reviewed and if they are showing above the pavement they need
to be shaped with asphalt to prevent plows hitting them. Believe it or not the roads move up and down
while manholes stay in place. The
shifting creates these differences in elevation. With gravel roads they also need to be shaped
to provide for plowing. Surfaces need to
be level and areas of erosion checked and satisfied. Plowing of gravel roads is a bit tricky in
that the roads need to freeze up before plows are used so as not to remove the
surface materials.
Moving on to equipment there are also lots of little things
that are done in preparation for the plowing season. Trucks are gone through and repairs
made. Trucks used for hauling gravel
need to be repurposed to plowing. That
means plows are installed. On the larger
trucks that means three plows; a belly plow, front plow and wing. With each plow cutting blades need to be
checked and swapped if required. Each
truck is also fitted with sanding and brine dispersal equipment.
Speaking of Brine?
What is this? As a means to
minimize the use of salt and to provide for better winter road maintenance the
city now uses brine on the roadways.
Brine is a saltwater mixture that is used in certain situations. Perhaps you have seen on the roadway what
appears to be a stripe of water prior to a winter storm. Brine is sprayed on the roadway to pretreat
the surface to minimize the adhesion of snow and ice. This allows for faster plowing and cleaner
roadways. Some times with limited snow
falls it eliminates the need to plow in early parts of the season. Brine is just one tool and used when
conditions allow, it is not just used for pretreatment. By the way the city makes its brine for use
and that too involves time in preparation, mixing salt and water meeting the
right concentration to be effective.
Another tool in the winter arsenal is sand and salt
sand. Sand needs to be hauled from the
pits and ready and available for use when needed. Many loads of sand are made available for
public works use. Salt sand is another
tool that requires preparation and forethought.
We typically haul in a semi-trailer of salt in the fall that was ordered
in early summer. Sand is then mixed with
the salt and stored for winter use. This
is done onsite with the loader and accomplished a little at a time.
Anticipation, preparation and forethought are all needed to
gear up for winter. Planning ahead for
the season is necessary and time consuming but it is all worth it when the snow
files and people need to get to work or the grocery store. This may be expected but a lot goes into the
process of managing winter.
