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Fighting
Snow & Ice
When winter storms hit, WVDOT Division of Highways personnel are
responsible for clearing all public roads in West Virginia with
the exception of city-owned streets, which are the responsibility
of the municipalities. In total, over 35,800 miles of roads fall
under state responsibility.
Snow
removal facts:
- 94,000 tons of salt and 156,000
tons of anti-skid materials such as sand and crushed stone are
held ready for spreading in DOT stockpiles at 155 depot locations
around the state.
- During a major statewide
winter storm, Division of Highways snowplow trucks will log 150,000
miles a day.
- Daily expenses for fighting
a major storm can hit $1,000,000 or more. This battle can involve
as many as 2,200 highway maintenance workers and 1200 snow-clearing
vehicles.
- Highway crews will work
24 hours a day, in two 12-hour shifts, keeping the roads clear.
- An average of 197,400
tons of salt has been spread on the roads over each of the past
six winters.
- Below 20 degrees Fahrenheit,
salt rapidly loses its ice-melting power. During low temperature
periods, alternative ice-melting chemicals may be required, but
they are very expensive compared to salt.
- Over 2800 bolt-on snowplow
blade edges were used in the past year. These carbide-tipped edges
bolt onto the bottom of the plow blades and are the part that
comes in contact with the road surface.
- Each October, snowplows
around the state hit the road for dry runs. This practice allows
operators to learn their routes, tune up the equipment and work
out any unforeseen problems.
Operations
Highway crews have to be ready to hit the road anytime the temperature
drops to 35 degrees and precipitation is falling or predicted. When
the air temperature hits freezing, any water on highway bridges
will begin to turn to ice and must be treated with salt. Once the
snow hits, snowplows must scrape the roads to remove the build-up,
spread salt to melt the ice and spread sand or crushed stone to
increase traction. In the midst of a statewide winter storm, DOH
snowplows will log 150,000 lane-miles in a 24-hour day.
For safety and logistical purposes, all snowplowing trucks and graders
are radio-equipped and drivers can communicate with their county
offices at any time. All county offices are linked by radio to one
of ten district control offices, which are in turn linked to the
communications center at the State Capitol. This way, road and weather
conditions can be monitored closely anywhere in the state.
Equipment
The DOH fleet includes two types of snowplow-equipped dump trucks:
663 single-axle and 152 tandem-axle vehicles. Single-axle trucks
can carry five tons of salt and anti-skid materials and cost approximately
$65,000 each. Tandem-axle trucks carry 12 tons of salt and anti-skid
material and cost around $80,000 each. The larger tandem-axle snowplows
are used almost exclusively on the Interstates and Appalachian Corridor
expressways. Additionally, DOH utilizes about 215 graders and 230
end loaders to beef up the snow removal counter assault.
Back at the maintenance garages, other Highways workers are busy
loading salt, refueling vehicles, staffing telephones and two-way
radios and replacing worn snowplow blades. The bolt-on, carbide-tipped
blade edges wear out from scraping pavement but are easily replaced.
As a reserve, DOH will keep 1,500 of them in inventory and end up
using several thousand a year.
Budget
$32 million is budgeted for snow and ice removal this winter. Actual
expenditures for the past five winters were:
- 2003/04 $33.8 million
- 2002/03 $45.1 million
- 2001/02 $17.8 million
- 2000/01 $30.7 million
- 1999/00 $22.6 million
Prior to the winter of 99/00,
the five-year average expenditure for snow removal and ice control
was $30.0 million.
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