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Town ‘storm chasers’ labor while snowy Boone slumbers |
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
 A Town of Boone street department employee plows the roads Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. Photo by Derek DeSha
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by MILLIE TOLLESON
Associate Editor for Editorial Content
While students laid in their beds at 3 a.m. Wednesday, dreaming of cancelled classes and hours of sledding, the Town of Boone street department was doing everything it could to ensure safe travels the next day.
Members of the street department crew are no strangers to late nights.
The street department runs two 12-hour shifts per day, with the night shift lasting from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
“It’s killer,” street superintendent Greg L. Miller said of the late night hours. Miller has worked with the
street department for 22 years, beginning as a maintenance worker before rising to his current position,
which he has held for 10 years.
“If it’s really been snowing, you’re out there all night, staying up all night. Two, three, four in the
morning – your eyes are really starting to get tired then.”
Miller said a lot of coffee and radio in the trucks help the crew stay alert.
However, he encourages crew members to be aware of how they are feeling.
“I tell the guys, ‘when you get tired, take a break. Rest your eyes a few minutes,’” Miller said.
Each shift usually has seven employees for salting and scraping, as well as two mechanics to fix any
problems with the trucks, Miller said.
Street department employee James C. Parlier said the mechanics are an essential part of the crew.
“We’ve got good mechanics that keep the equipment going. As long as they can keep our equipment
running good, it makes our job a lot easier,” Parlier said.
During Tuesday night’s shift, one truck overheated and had to be brought back to the shop for repairs.
Miller said the decision to begin salting is made “if they’re giving a real good chance of it [snowing].”
The department also uses a salt and water mixture in some cases to keep snow from freezing to the pavement.
The trucks begin scraping at about a half an inch accumulation.
Tuesday night, the crew pre-salted the roads in the evening hours, and then was forced to sit back with
the rest of Boone and wait for the snowflakes to fall.
However, Miller said once it does start, it’s sometimes hard to keep up.
“It can snow one inch in 30 minutes. Once it’s really snowing, we’re always behind, unless we have a
truck on every street,” Miller said.
The crew does not continuously salt throughout the night.
Miller estimated the trucks distributed about 50-60 tons of salt Tuesday night in anticipation of snow,
and approximated his crew dumps about 1,000 tons of salt on the roads per winter, as well as about
500-600 tons of slag – a mixture of salt and crushed rock for added traction on the roads.
And the salt’s not cheap, Miller said.
“It’s very expensive – about $68 per ton.”
Miller said he has noticed a clear decline in the intensity of winters in Boone over the past few years.
“When I grew up here, and when I first started working here, it seemed worse,” Miller said. “Last winter
and this winter, there hasn’t been as much snow so we haven’t used as much materials.”
The street department is responsible for over 40 miles of streets throughout Boone, although Miller
explained his crew is not in charge of many of the major roads, including the state-owned highways and
Rivers Street.
“We don’t maintain the state highways in Boone – mostly little residential streets,” Miller said. “In big
cities, the residential streets go to the back burner a lot of times.”
Miller said the 40-mile area is divided into six sections, one of which is mainly parking areas.
“It will take one of our guys about three or four hours to go around an entire section,” Miller said. “And if
there’s more snow, it will go a little slower.”
Miller said many of the roads the department is responsible for can be narrow, steep and can dead-end,
making for interesting turn-arounds.
Parlier said pushing snow can be hard at times, especially at night.
“One of the dislikes is having cars sitting out in the roadway when you’re trying to clear the streets.
That gets hectic,” Parlier said. “You don’t like to have someone towed but sometimes you have to.”
As for driving in the snow, Miller said, “We get scared, too. But like anything, you get used to it.”
Miller said the requirements to drive a truck include having a class B commercial driver’s license.
However, after that, it’s mostly about “taking people out and showing them the roads.”
Parlier said he enjoys the company of his co-workers.
“I like all the guys I work with. They’re really good people,” Parlier said. “We are the storm chasers. We
see a storm coming and we have to get prepared for it.”
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