Iowa DOT testing blue lights on snow plows this winter

CEDAR RAPIDS - Around Iowa, there's still plenty to test when it comes to how best to deal with winter.

At the Iowa Department of Transportation maintenance garage in Cedar Rapids, highway technicians Richard Shebek and Brett Kruse earlier this month were installing trial blades on the undercarriage of an orange truck as part of converting the dump truck to snowplow.

The shop is comparing how a tungsten carbide blade, which scrapes the surface of the road, performs versus rubber blades, which get deeper into grooves but wear out more rapidly, and steel blades, which last longest but are the least flexible.

'We want to see if it will hold up better on concrete,” said Johnny Shanahan, shop supervisor.

Iowa DOT requires that its snow plows be assembled and tested by Oct. 31, Shanahan said.

This year, Iowa DOT workers in Cedar Rapids calibrated a sensor to detect the volume of salt being applied, tested for corrosion on hoses, and integrated a new back-end GPS system to detect where snowplows are and have been in real-time.

They've stockpiled 5,700 tons of salt and 30,000 gallons of brine. In a shed in the back, they tested brine to get just the right salt-to-water consistency. An 80-20 'slurry” seems to be most effective at stretching the effective range down to minus 5 degrees, Shanahan said.

They are also testing new plowing routes this year, including working with the Iowa DOT garage in Coralville to simultaneously clear northbound and southbound Interstate 380, Shanahan said.

BLUE LIGHTS

The most noticeable change for motorists this winter will likely be the new blue and white emergency lights that DOT is testing on snowplows.

Around Iowa, 213 of about 900 Iowa DOT snowplows have been outfitted with the blue and white lights, along with ambers. All 150 of the snowplows in District 1, which serves central Iowa, including Des Moines and Ames, now have blue lights, as do five plows in Cedar Rapids and Coralville.

Earlier this year, the Iowa Legislature approved a three-year test of the blue flashers on snowplows to be used only in snow emergencies. The hope is to better distinguish snowplows from other vehicles.

Snow plows often travel slower, particularly on interstates, and their wing blades jut out, making them susceptible to collisions.

Amber lights have traditionally been used on snow plows, but some believe the color can be confused with other vehicles, such as construction vehicles. Others have questioned whether the new color scheme will be confused with the blue lights on police cruisers.

On average, snowplows are involved in about 40 collisions per year, according to the Iowa DOT.

'Our biggest hope is to see a significant reduction in crashes, predominantly rear-end crashes and people trying to pass (a plow) on the left side and they hit the left-hand wing,” Bargfrede said.

The project has cost $175,000, Bargfrede said.

SEASONAL WORKERS

The Iowa DOT is hiring 600 seasonal workers to augment full-time staff this winter, he said.

For local roads in Cedar Rapids, Mike Duffy, Cedar Rapids streets superintendent, said the city has already equipped 42 plows and six brine trucks - 90 pieces of equipment in all - stocked up 10,000 gallons of brine and 6,000 tons of salt.

'We are ready to go,” Duffy said.

The biggest change this year will be managing new alignments downtown where several one-ways were converted to two-way streets, with new bike lanes and parking offset from the street. They'll have to pick up snow more quickly in order to keep surfaces clear, he said.

In Iowa City, snowplows are the same vehicles used to collect leaves.

'It's an internal struggle every year” deciding when to convert the trucks to plows, said Jon Resler, streets superintendent.

The city quickly converted the leaf trucks for snow removal last week, but may switch back to leaf collecting.

'We will continue to monitor the forecast,” Resler said. 'There's a lot of pressure to keep collecting leaves, but if we were to see something big coming, we'd pull the plug on leaf collection and be all in on winter.”