Town of Washington highway crew battles 'snowicane'

WASHINGTON — Last week the town of Washington’s Highway Superintendent Jim Brownell, who has plowed town roads for 28 years, braced himself for the perfect storm. Weather forecasts for winds, snow and ice were extreme and varied enormously.  As usual, Brownell checked the National Weather Service and made his decisions based on experience and his own analysis of local radar maps.  

“You play each one as it comes,� said Brownell. “And then you guess. It’s akin to farming. It’s very weather dependent and you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.�

This time the town was lucky and had only about 14 inches of snow compared to the more than 20 inches that fell in Poughkeepsie and southern Dutchess County.

During the much-hyped “snowicane,â€� the town of Washington’s eight-man highway crew was sent home to rest at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, and returned to work seven-and-a-half hours later at 10 p.m. Plowing continued nonstop throughout the stormy night into the next day from 10 p.m. Thursday to 3:30 p.m. Friday, a 15.5-hour shift.  The whole crew again returned to the highway garage at 2 a.m. on Saturday morning and plowed until 9 a.m.

Brownell said he was very close to asking the crew not to return home to rest, and instead stay at the town garage during the storm. The town has no standby or optional workers, and during some storms the Washington highway employees must work 24-hour shifts and rest periodically by the side of the road.  

“You can’t give these guys enough credit,� said Brownell.

Operating six big trucks and three smaller trucks and graders, it takes the crew about three to four hours to make a complete plow run over the town’s 64 miles of road, and longer if the snow is heavy and wet like the most recent storm. Brownell’s top priority is to keep the roads open for people commuting to and from work, but there is always equipment on call, frequently driven by Brownell himself, to clear the roads for Central Hudson, the fire department or 911 emergencies.  

The town’s 30 miles of unpaved roads are plowed differently and receive specialized attention. Slower, smaller trucks and graders must be used because the large, heavy plows damage the road surfaces. As the ground softens it can take eight hours, rather than three, to clear those dirt roads.

The biggest expense in the annual town of Washington $165,000 snow removal budget is salt, which now runs $78.50 a ton and must be ordered every March to take advantage of the volume discounts from the state.  Brownell said that the department has never been over its budget, and is pleased that he currently has about half a shed or 800 tons in inventory to last the rest of this winter season.

Asked if he observed any change in the weather, Brownell conjectured that the snow is melting faster now than in the early 1990s, which reduces plowing and salting. Brownell is now preparing for the next storm and the mud season.