Crews can be on the roads for a long time too. “Sometimes it’s like 24 hours,” Klotz explained. “It’s a long day.”
Towns and villages don’t always plow every road. It depends on jurisdiction. Ulster County clears its routes, and the state Department of Transportation plows keep state roads clean.
Driving around on state or county road, some roadways have a referee-stripe look to them. That pattern is from salt-water brine used by the county, state and some towns.
It is used mostly on high-traffic roads, since the brine coats the road and it is more effective when traffic drives on it. Brine prevents ice and snow from binding to the asphalt, allowing plows to more easily scrape down to the pavement.
Availability of salt is an issue locally. Even having ordered 600 tons or 800 tons — as New Paltz and Lloyd did respectively — hasn’t matched up to what’s needed to be thrown down this year.
“That’s the biggest fear — running out,” Marx said.
The Ulster County Highway Superintendents Association is a good resource though, since the local departments can share resources if need be.
But worries about a U.S. salt shortage are a little overblown, according to the Salt Institute — the national trade association representing salt producers.
“There isn’t a salt shortage — salt is in abundant supply. However, some of the country is experiencing a more severe winter than normal, leaving some municipalities and Departments of Transportation with low inventories,” explained Lori Roman, the Salt Institute’s president, in a Feb. 5 press release.
Roman added: “While many agencies try to have enough salt on hand in the fall to get them through an entire winter, recent weather is forcing many to order again mid-season — which is not an ideal situation as there is a lead time for delivery.”
According to the industry group, plows collectively dropped about 17 million tons of road salt in the U.S. during 2013. This year it is expected more salt will be used.
National Geographic recently profiled where American road salt comes from. While untreated rock salt is still sodium chloride — like what’s used at the dinner table — it’s extracted in a different way. Rock salt is mined underground, rather than extracted by evaporating salt from the water. The biggest rock salt mines are located near Cleveland and Detroit, but big mines are in Louisiana, Kansas and New York as well, the magazine wrote.
If winter has you cursing the fates, or cussing out your local highway department for seemingly forgetting your road, patience with plows is a virtue.
“People should realize, at least in town here, it can take us — without traffic — two hours to make a total rotation for a plow run,” Marx said. “When people don’t see the plow trucks come back for a while, it’s not because they’re not out — it’s because they’re plowing the other part of their run.”
New Paltz officials praise local plowing crews
Even before last week’s big snow, the work of local plows hadn’t gone unnoticed. Village trustees and Town Board members both praised the work of the Department of Public Works and Highway Department.
Mayor Jason West noted that village crews were out on Feb. 6 at 1 a.m. to remove snow downtown after the initial plowing was over.
“They finished, I think, sometime around 4 a.m. removing the snow. They got back to work about 1 p.m. on Friday, and were called in again for a water main break by BOCES,” West said. “They were sometimes waist-deep in freezing water. I saw them leave at 2 a.m. on Saturday morning.”
Village DPW workers are committed. “If you see the Public Works guys around, thank them for working exhausted no matter what,” he said.
Town Board and Village Board members voted unanimously Feb. 12 to send commendations to Bleu Terwilliger, the village’s DPW foreman, and Marx for their departments’ work this winter.
Big shout out to all of our road crews. In the Town of Rochester I have been quite amazed at how quickly and consistently the roads have been cleared during our biggest storms thus far. Seriously good job by all and I know when I hear them roar past at 4 AM they’ve been pulling some long, very cold hours. Thank you for that. If only the rest of our government could operate so efficiently, with clear purpose, and no complaints.