With several days left in the winter season, many municipalities and county road crews help to keep our roadways safe for the motoring public.

That’s the main goal for the City of Jefferson as well. Public Works Director Dave Morlan says snow removal crews go out anytime there’s snow accumulation of over one-half inch. There are several vehicles and equipment used during each snow event.

“We’re going to try something different this year and sending a pickup truck with a plow out with them to try and speed things up a little bit. We’ll have four dump trucks, we’ll have three pickups with plows, we have a road grader and then there’s a backhoe that goes out, along with a little John Deere tractor that does sidewalks and there’s a skid loader that does all the City parking lots.”

Whenever crews are sent out, Morlan notes that all departments help including wastewater, water and parks, along with the street department.

The City currently owns one truck with a sander that typically follows the plow truck to apply their sand and salt material to the road. Morlan adds that they are planning to add another sander by next winter.

Crews can be out between 8 to 18 hours clearing the roads, depending on how much snow falls.