Snow plowing costs at record pace

Posted at 11:20 AM on February 4, 2011 by Mark Steil (10 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

The orange colored state snow plow trucks have been out in force this winter and that's adding up to a big bill for clearing roads.

Minnesota Department of Transportation officials say the heavy snow already has pushed road-clearing costs to a record pace.

"Through January 18th we've actually spent $48 million," said Steven Lund, the DOT's state maintenance engineer.

That's $3 million ahead of the same date in 2009, which so far is the DOT's most expensive snow plowing year. Crews are putting in long hours.

"It has been a tough winter on them," Lund said. "There have been some stretches where they've been out there on a daily basis for weeks on end."

So far, the DOT's supply of salt has held up well. Lund said there's no concern that the department will run out before winter ends.

He says one positive factor is that snow plows receive more help from the sun in February than in past months. As the sun moves higher into the sky the strength of its heating power increases, to the point where it can melt significant amounts of snow on roadways even if the air temperature is below freezing.

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Comments (10)

It wouldn't cost so much if the DOT managed their driver's time better. I'm on the road in northern Minnesota every day and every day I see plow trucks running up and down the road looking for a snow flake to plow, flicking little "finger drifts" off of the shoulder of the road and building up their overtime. DOT should put their drivers on a fixed salary and when there is nothing for them to do they should park the trucks and go home until it snows.

Posted by Larry Frehse | February 6, 2011 7:11 AM

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Are you kidding???? I would love to view this budget and see where they are supposedly plowing. Driving to work this afternoon at 5pm, there were intersections with busy lights in Eden Prairie that had not been plowed thoroughly. This is my tax dollars at work?????? I'd like a refund, please. I could do a better job with my shovel. Maybe if the DOT didn't have TWO plows running side by side on HWY 5 at 3am they could better manage the roads. Where is the management in all this???

Posted by kate | February 22, 2011 4:48 AM

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they should make a rule that atleast at every 4 inches they`ll come around and plow it for us, any less shouldn`t be too difficult to trim/clean up and drive in with remains. if we cleaned up 3 of the inches we`d have only 1 inch to drive in wich isn`t much and shouldn`t be too difficult.

Posted by warner | July 31, 2011 1:11 AM

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ok, so that should mean perhaps past 4 inches, and not only that but as more cars move in more snow gets cleared of the way. if a carowner cleared up a tireway at the tire`s width, they wouldn`t have too clear the entire driveway to save time for work and as that car creates a path along the roads, more cars could come into that path cleared up as well as making even more snow clear of the way. or maybe even atleast 2 inches shouldn`t be too difficult to drive in.

Posted by warner | July 31, 2011 1:22 AM

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hell, even 3 inches shouldn`t be too difficult to drive in, where as a car comes along a tire path is cleared up along the way, and ya only have 3 inches of tire path to clear. they should make a rule that when it gets to 5 inches they`ll plow it for us therefore we clear up the first 2 inches that fall and we`ll only have 3 inches to drive in. therefore, even if more than 5 inches fall they`ll clear it up alongthe way.

Posted by warner | July 31, 2011 1:40 AM

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ah,no, it shood be that when it gets past the 5-inch mark they`ll clear it for us, meaning we clear up 2 inches we`ll only have 3 inches to drive in. rearrange the sleep/work time to stay on pace with the needed sleeping time regulation by one example: sleeping earlier than the regular sleeping time the night before the snowfall and sleeping that much later the next night

Posted by warner | July 31, 2011 1:50 AM

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kay, so HERE`S how it should be stricted: plowing- individual snowfall past 5 inches, or a combination of an individual snowfall exactly 5 inches and an individual snowfall past an inch. our removal rate- an individual snowfall exactly 5 inches either alone, or followed by any other individual snowfall up to an inch, any individual or combination past 3 inches we should clear up or let that combination be only up to 3 inches, which may slow us down a tiny bit but really shouldn`t be too difficult for our tires to stroll on, let kids clear up what we can`t as they have the power to and have more freetime than us adults, even an individual under 5 inches and joined by an individual that leads to a combination past 6 inches we take care of. life is tough as we know, so let`s remember to learn our time-managing skills

Posted by warner | July 31, 2011 7:03 PM

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also that shood be for all areas that receive snow. 5 " is still quite a little bit and can be defeated easily by the power of our engines. that shoulda been the historical rule for all areas that receive snow.

Posted by warner | August 2, 2011 1:55 PM

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that shooda been the historical rule for all the wintery climates

Posted by warner | August 2, 2011 1:57 PM

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oops, i thought that 1st comment of them last 2 wasn`t posted

Posted by warner | August 2, 2011 1:58 PM

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