Snowplow driver finds success in the numbers

SHAWANO — His truck shook and jumped from hitting a ridge in the asphalt pavement on East Green Bay Street near Rusch Road in Shawano.

John Cooper said that’s one reason why he rarely plows snow going over 25 mph with his Shawano County Highway Department truck.

“That can be scary, because the plow can catch and pull the plow under the truck. That’d do some real damage,” he said from his driver’s seat in the cramped cab.

A slower speed while plowing gives the plow much better contact with the road, he said. “There’s a little less ‘chop’ than going 30-35 mph,” he added.

Snowplow drivers have a lot of numbers besides miles per hour to remember and apply as they get traffic lanes open on state roads, then county roads, then by township roads.

“There’s too much to worry about to get bored,” he said as he headed toward Cecil on state Highway 22.

Worries, like the air temperature. Like the pavement temperature. Like the wind speed and direction. Like the snow depth.

Like 3,000 gallons of brine on his truck. On the night of Feb. 17, he was using “straight” brine brewed at the county highway shop in Shawano from water and 23.3% granular road salt as he started his assigned route from East Green Bay Street at the junction of Airport Road to the Shawano County line through Pulcifer. He knows that’s enough to complete one round, just like he knows it takes 2-2½ hours to complete one “lap” of Highways 22 and 32.

He checked the snow depth a few miles northeast of Shawano by pulling a hydraulic lever to lower his blade.

“You always go down with the ‘heel’ first,” Cooper said, then you follow that with the “toe.” This approach reduces wear on the blade.

“Really not enough,” Cooper judged, pulling the blade back up. He opted for distributing brine, “I just want to make sure that the work traffic can get home.”

Cooper’s numbers in snowplowing started with 40 hours of in-house training followed by 40 hours of riding along with an experienced driver. He started in the Navarino area on township roads.

Training followed by a ridealong and then starting on township roads is the typical path for snowplow drivers in Shawano County, according to Grant Bystol, county highway commissioner.

Given the width of his plows at 10-11 feet, plus the weight and length of his truck, just getting off the road, backing up or turned around can be a major chore, he said.

Two of the secrets of successful snowplowing are keeping to the centerline and always knowing where your plow edge is, Cooper said as he peered out the windshield kept clear by a very hot cab heater.

That’s due to another number he keeps in mind. Most roads have a 2% slope from the centerline to the ditch, Cooper said. You can use gravity to get the brine to flow where it will do the most good, he added.

Coming into a broad curve on the south end of Cecil, Cooper said, “I’m going to go a little high on the curve. That way, the brine will flow down the curve.”

Cooper slows at intersections, such as where Highway 117 meets Highway 22 in Cecil, and hits “Blast” on his brine controls to put down more brine.

“That helps traffic not to slide through the intersection,” he said.

Cooper’s entire route is asphalt except for the Oconto County bridge near the north end.

“Concrete is a different kind of monster. Concrete freezes quicker. The radiant heat of the sun makes a big difference on asphalt,” he said.

The worst time of day to plow is right at daylight, Cooper observed, because it’s the coldest part of the night.

Wind and drifting are the worst for a driver, in Cooper’s view, but he knows tricks to help drivers, as he did in a drifted area last week.

“I knew which way the wind was coming from so I ‘cut’ that side of the road back further. That helped for a few hours,” he said.

“Cutting” or using the wing plow to get snow further off the road pushes the snow into balls. That tends to collect more snow and stay put, Cooper said.

Cooper later amended his “worst” statement.

“Really frigid weather, that’s worst. That and ice,” he said because removing ice requires a lot of heavy pressure from the plow.

Cooper found out early in his career that mailboxes are vulnerable although they are rarely knocked over by direct contact with a plow.

“If I have to clean up the shoulders, I’ll go even slower because it’s the weight of the snow ahead of the plow that breaks a mailbox,” he said.

Street signs are also easy to snap off if plow drivers aren’t careful in pushing the mounds of snow off the road at intersections. Again, it’s the weight of the snow, not the plow, Cooper said.

Having headlights on helps snowplowsuse headline-briefs style

“When people have their headlights on, that really helps us,” John Cooper, a county patrolman or snowplow operator, observed. He made a plea for drivers to monitor their headlights and make sure the lights are on low beam when approaching a plow.

Because effective snowplowing means a plow stays near the centerline, seeing oncoming traffic is critical, the veteran driver said. “Some drivers think that because they can see, we can see them,” Cooper said.

That’s not always true, he added.