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P.O. Box 7129
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Fax: 208.334.8563

 


'Snow joke: Winter skipped over snowplows

All these plows and nowhere to go
'cause winter came and went without any snow

From Interchange, District 4 newsletter
Some years you get it, other years not so much. The snowfall this winter was more of the latter.
Despite the amazing lack of snow that fell across District Four during the winter of 2009-2010, maintenance crews still managed to keep busy chasing a handful of small storms.

“Snow year?” asked Ron Robinson, D4 maintenance coordinator. “What snow year?

“Actually, no matter the amount of snow, it will still snow in Stanley beginning is September and doesn’t end until May and in the Twin Falls area winter still starts in November and ends in the first part of March. … It doesn’t matter where you’re at, winter still starts and ends on time,” Robin-son added.

Adding to the light snow year was the fact there were no road closures due to winter storms in D4 — a first in several years. But some of that can be attributed to new techniques to combat the worst this winter had to offer.

Among the changes to the storm-fighting arsenal includes:

  • Addition of liquid treatments district-wide,
  • Pre-wetting roadways to stave off the effects of ice,
  • Improved tracking with the RWIS sites, and
  • Increased use of snow cats to carve drift trenches.

Other changes to nor-mal operations included the pilot program for the MDSS in several plows and storm response critiques with the area maintenance foremen.

“By adding the critiques, we’re finding ways to adjust the operations and find out what’s working and what’s not,” Robinson said. “And we’re finding some cost savings as well.”

The most important statistic, Robinson added, has been the fact that while crashes involving plows did happen, nobody has been injured.

Published 3-26-2010