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October 26, 1999 AMES, Iowa -- The Iowa Department of Transportation is ready to do battle with Mother Nature this winter. Armed with an arsenal of 1,000 snow plows, 80 motor graters, hundreds of snow blowers and 1,400 service operators, supervisors and mechanics, the DOT is poised to contend with the 32 inches of snow the state receives on average each winter. The battle began Oct. 15, the first day of winter for the DOT. "Oct. 15 is always our first official day of winter," said Dennis Burkheimer, Iowa DOT winter operations administrator. "By that date, all of the equipment is supposed to be ready, all the plows are fitted to the trucks to make sure that they match up the right plow with the right truck, all the salt is in the dome and the domes are full." Winter is a $34 million season for the DOT, which is responsible for keeping 800 miles of interstate and 11,000 miles of other roads clear and safe for drivers. "There's a lot of road miles we have to take care of," Burkheimer said. "We're always evaluating new products, new materials, new equipment and trying to find the mix that allows us to provide the right amounts of materials at the right time so that they do the job for us." The DOT has a stockpile of 150,000 tons of salt, 75,000 tons of sand and 65,000 gallons of calcium chloride on hand as firepower to combat snowy and icy conditions. "All of those deicing chemicals and abrasives are in stock, ready to go and waiting for the first [winter] weather of the year," Burkheimer said. Salt and calcium chloride are used to melt snow and ice while sand is applied to provide traction for vehicles. In past years, the DOT has used a 50-50 mixture of salt and sand. Burkheimer said the DOT now works "to use the right material for the right conditions." Two days before the first predicted snow or ice storm, the DOT coats the entire interstate system with calcium chloride, a liquid deicer that melts snow in temperatures as low as 56 degrees below zero. Salt is only effective in temperatures 15-20 degrees above zero and the calcium chloride stays on the pavement for approximately two days longer than the salt does, Burkheimer said. "We're the only state that has gone as far as we have with the anti-icing liquids," Burkheimer said. But the calcium chloride does present dangers to the environment, especially to crops. "We're very conscious of the fact that we're using a calcium chloride," Burkheimer said. "It's corrosive, so we're very aware of that. We're trying to minimize the amount that we use to just the right amount so that we're keeping it on the roadway so we're not creating a harmful affect on the environment and we're not creating runoff into the water." Last winter the DOT dumped 50,000 gallons of calcium chloride onto Iowa's interstate system. Burkheimer said the DOT will work to lessen that amount this year because of environmental concerns. Keeping Iowa's roads safe during the winter is becoming an increasingly state-of-the-art task. Fifty roadway weather information systems at different locations throughout the state gauge pavement temperatures, subsurface temperatures, air temperatures and wind speeds. The readings are reported to the 135 DOT garages across the state and will be available to the public on the Internet in November at www.ctre.iastate.edu/. Burkheimer said Roadway Weather Information Systems are important in keeping track of the pavement temperature, which is typically 15-20 degrees warmer than the air temperature. "We do a lot of our operations on the pavement temperature as opposed to the air temperature," Burkheimer said. "That all determines how much snow and ice can be melted. I guess it tells us a lot when we can see what conditions our neighbor is having to face. It gives us something to anticipate future conditions with so we can brace ourselves." Plow trucks are also becoming more and more technological. Infrared thermometers flank the underside of trucks, measuring the pavement temperature at different points along the road. And global positioning systems, the same satellite technology used on smart bombs, track the speed, direction and status of trucks and plows. "It's probably something that's going to be of value to us, to be able to learn and understand how we can manage our resources using that technology," Burkheimer said. The state is divided into four traffic areas that set priorities for snow and ice removal. Class A traffic areas are areas with the most amount of traffic, namely interstates. Class B traffic areas are areas with strong amounts of traffic, such as highways. Class C traffic areas are fairly busy areas, such as county and district roads. And Class D traffic areas are areas with the lowest amounts of traffic. The roads with higher classes of traffic are equipped with more snow removal trucks. "You're going to find more of your trucks in the metro areas," Burkheimer said. "There's higher concentration of traffic in those areas. It does [present challenges] but we think we have sufficient equipment in lower concentration areas to accomplish the job." Many, but not all forecasters are predicting a very cold winter this year and a cold winter means less snow. "Last year [the snow] came down in three or four big snowstorms, so we saved a lot of money because it's easier to take off six to 12 inches than it is to continually go out and fight those half-inch snowstorms," Burkheimer said. "Those are the ones that'll cost us a lot of money. I root for the cold. You can't get as much snow out of the atmosphere. When it gets cold it gets drier, so you just can't get as much snow." The DOT is under more pressure than ever before to keep Iowa's roads safe and clear during winter, Burkheimer said. "The challenge we face is that it's a very mobile society we live in today that's different than it has been in the past," Burkheimer said. "Everybody is mobile, so there is more demand for cleaner roads, quicker." |