State highway plow drivers

Goin For Snow · Apr 19, 2013

I dont plow snow for living nor to i claim to be an expert in it.

Why do we plow a lane with the front blade, then come back with with the front down and a wing, then come back again with just a wing, then a 4th time to wing it waaaayyy back in the ditch.

cubby · Apr 19, 2013

Must just be a MN thing, cause that's not how they do it here in MT

skidoorulz · Apr 19, 2013

Job security. If it only took 1 pass you would only get in a 2 hour day instead of an 8 hour day.

MORSNO · Apr 19, 2013

Advancement by time on the job, not by initiative!

skidoorulz · Apr 19, 2013

One thing that has always made me wonder is. Why do we even plow snow and spread gravel and salt in April or May? I mean really? Tomorrow is going to be 60 degrees, let Mother Nature take it away and save the taxpayers money.:doh:

Goin For Snow · Apr 19, 2013

I figured that was the case but didnt want to seem like anyone was not making efficent use my taxes right?

They do it correctly in MT.

They will push the 8" of slop we got last night around the shoulders of the road the for rest of the weekend...

Mafesto · Apr 19, 2013

skidoorulz said:
One thing that has always made me wonder is. Why do we even plow snow and spread gravel and salt in April or May? I mean really? Tomorrow is going to be 60 degrees, let Mother Nature take it away and save the taxpayers money.:doh:

Salt is the enemy.
The use of salt is inf_ckingsane!
$40,000 vehicles rusting out in 5 years for no other reason than road salt.
Imagine how many billions of dollars are "rusted" away needlessly.
Salt is GAY!

Simply plow the damned road, and if it's still slick, drive accordingly.

Salt is for food, not driving on.

I've got 2 white vehicles in my garage right now.......
You wanna know what is wrong with that? I'll tell you what's wrong with that.....
ONE IS RED & ONE IS BROWN.....THEY SHOULDN'T BE WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!
That is what is wrong with that.

Salt is gay.

MORSNO · Apr 19, 2013

Salt isn't needed on the roads, as proven here in Alaska. They do use a bunch of sand (which actually has little salt in it to keep the sand from clumping into massive dirt balls, but no white vehicles from the salt), and gravel for traction. We don't get a lot of sun, but when you do the dark dirt helps the snow melt down to the pavement.

yukon_dragon · Apr 19, 2013

^^^^^ this..

mtsummitx · Apr 19, 2013

Goin For Snow said:
I figured that was the case but didnt want to seem like anyone was not making efficent use my taxes right?

They do it correctly in MT.

They will push the 8" of slop we got last night around the shoulders of the road the for rest of the weekend...

I don't know if I'd say they do it right in MT. We can get a foot of snow and not see a plow out for days, but when it snows 1 inch they are everywhere you look. At least in Billings anyways.

Dobber1 · Apr 19, 2013

Goin For Snow said:
I dont plow snow for living nor to i claim to be an expert in it.

Why do we plow a lane with the front blade, then come back with with the front down and a wing, then come back again with just a wing, then a 4th time to wing it waaaayyy back in the ditch.

Yeah, not to mention the guy in the front loader going from one delineater to the other clearing the snow from both sides! What's the deal with that? So we can see where the edge of the road is? Eff that! The snow piled up on the sides of the road seem to do that just fine. Geeez us, don't get me started. :face-icon-small-coo

Mafesto · Apr 19, 2013

Much of our trail system runs along the highway.
I swear those butthole monkeys driving the plow trucks go out of their way to take out a trailblazer any chance they get.

sdsnocop · Apr 19, 2013

I would much rather drive a snowpacked or icy road than to drive in the slimy crap they treat the roads with. It is almost impossible to follow someone unless you are either on their bumper or further than 1 mile behind them. Anything in between the slime dries on your windshield before your wipers can wipe them off. Mafesto I feel for you in trying to maintain a snowmobile trail in a highway ditch. I have had WY DOT bring in a front end loader and dig out a section of trail the width of the bucket 3 feet to the ground (to install a sign) and not mark the cut or slope the sides leaving a 3 foot hole for a snowmobiler to fall into. When I asked the crew to either leave the trail in a safe condition or notify us when they dig out the trail so we can fix it I ended up with a visit from their supervisor chewing my behind for chewing out his crew.

mtbroncrider · Apr 21, 2013

mtsummitx said:
I don't know if I'd say they do it right in MT. We can get a foot of snow and not see a plow out for days, but when it snows 1 inch they are everywhere you look. At least in Billings anyways.

huh, thought the only did that goofy crap here in the capitol

Vern · Apr 22, 2013

^^^^we see the same thing here in northern utah

around here they've gone away from the sand and now they just spray some salt water $hit on the roads the day before a storm. its nasty stuff and still turns your vehicle white. i usually throw a coat of paint or undercoating on the frame of my truck every summer and by march its rusty again. you should see our sled trailer, its a steel open 4 place and it looks like swiss cheese. its getting to the point where I'm nervous to take it very far from the house.

MORSNO · Apr 22, 2013

We had that liquid garbage up here also for a few seasons (only in the downtown Anchorage streets that I know of). It ate away at the asphalt and our vehicles. The stuff created a snotty slippery surface that supposedly kept ice from sticking to the road, all it did was cause more wrecks when vehicles slid on the snot. I noticed a ton of tar on my vehicles because of it, but this year it wasn't used, and my car and truck have next to no tar on them. Someone made a lot of money selling the garbage and the equipment needed to spray it. Do you think you'll see them helping pay for road resurfacing needed because of the damage they created? OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

Ron Burgandy · Apr 22, 2013

MN applies salt simply for one reason, to avoid accidents. One fatality costs the state $750,000-1,000,000. The cost of salt is pretty minor if it saves X amount of accidents. MnDOT is national recognized as one of the best transportation departments. They probably know what they are doing.

skidoorulz · Apr 22, 2013

Ron Burgandy said:
MN applies salt simply for one reason, to avoid accidents. One fatality costs the state $750,000-1,000,000. The cost of salt is pretty minor if it saves X amount of accidents. MnDOT is national recognized as one of the best transportation departments. They probably know what they are doing.

How does an accident cost the state anything???????? It does not cost a million dollars to investigate an accident. Unless the idiot driving tries to sue the state for ice on the road put there by mother nature. Then it should be thrown out. The only ones an accident should cost is the insurance companies and the people in the accident. Salt and the damage it causes, costs way more per year in ruined autos than anything else. When a car is rusted beyond safe use in 7 or 8 years that is a problem. I keep mine about 12 years before I get rid of them and they are still in excellent shape. Heck the other day I saw my old 86 Dodge pickup on the road.

Ron Burgandy · Apr 22, 2013

The research involved with a fatality on a state road is more extravagant than you think, add up the multiple people that will work on the case and their salaries, all the legal fees, all the insurance BS that comes with it, all the designing and engineering to come up with a plan to prevent the situation in the future, the physical work that it takes to improve it..... adds up in a hurry.

Usually people that plows roads, myself included, are in a lose-lose situation. You're either pissed when the roads aren't plowed or your pissed when the roads are "over plowed" if you will.

Rust is a common color in MN. Salt plays a major factor in that aspect of it which I completely understand, but I realize its a way of life here and a coat of wax on your truck and a car wash once a month pretty much takes care of the rust. It is what you make of it.

Goin For Snow · Apr 23, 2013

Ron Burgandy said:
MnDOT is national recognized as one of the best transportation departments. They probably know what they are doing.

You shovel enough cash at anything you can make it look good.

State highway plow drivers

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