ONTARIO — Tom Harvey took his foot off the gas and let the truck slow to a gentle pace as he approached a dip in Walker Lake Road just outside Ontario city limits.
The stretch would barely be worthy of the term ‘hill’ under normal circumstances, but Harvey knew better than to take chances during a winter storm.
His right hand hovered over the console with all the snow plow’s controls, his fingers grazed the joystick that moved the plow up, down, left and right.
A quick flick of his thumb would be crucial if things went sideways.
Harvey was at the beginning of his route, his truck bed was heavy with hundreds of pounds of salt. If he hit an ice patch and the back end of the truck began to slide, lifting the plow helped even out the weight distribution by making the truck’s front end heavier.
If the truck did slide off the road, it would be crucial to lift the blade before it got caught in a snowdrift and anchored him in place.
Fortunately, there was no need to lift the plow. Harvey’s truck stayed the course. It passed a field with pieces of chaff poking out from the snow and a murder of crows drawing curlicues in the gray sky above.
Winter Storm Fern dumped several inches of snow on north central Ohio Sunday. Local authorities urged residents to stay off the roads.
But Harvey and his colleagues at the Richland County Highway Department didn’t have that luxury.
The county highway department is responsible for maintaining 348 miles of county roads, including stretches of Lexington Springmill, Cook Road, Illinois Avenue and Marion Avenue.
Road crews began plowing Sunday around 2:30 a.m., according to Jon Dickinson, road supervisor for the Richland County Engineer’s Office. His drivers worked 10-hour shifts, with 11 trucks out on the road at any given time. Each driver was responsible for 35 miles of road, or 70 “lane miles.”
It may not seem like a lot, but the goal is for employees to drive their route several times throughout the course of a day.
During a winter storm, one pass won’t keep a road clear for long.
Dickinson planned operations based on weather forecasts for snow and ice, as well as projected temperatures.
While road crews were plowing all county roads, Dickinson said drivers were instructed to limit salt to hills, bridges, curves and intersections.
“We don’t have the budget to run salt the whole time during a storm like this,” he said.
It’s also not that effective during heavy snow fall, when a layer of salt can get buried within a few hours.
‘The biggest thing you want to watch out for is other people’
Salt becomes less effective as the temperatures drops, too. So, county crews drop a mix of salt, brine and gravel (for traction).
Tom Harvey was part of the second shift crew that took to the streets at 1 p.m.
When I met Harvey at the county’s main garage just north of downtown Mansfield, he gave me a friendly handshake and told me he’d do his best to give me a safe and fun ride.
A Mansfield native, he spent a decade making his living by cutting down trees before taking a job with the county last year.
Harvey already had a commercial driver’s license, but said he also did some on-the-job training with more experienced drivers.
They taught him to look out for deep snow drifts and pay attention to how the truck’s brakes react to the road.
“The biggest thing you want to watch out for is other people,” Harvey said. “You need to make sure they give you adequate room.”
“You don’t ever want to assume that they see you, because just when you assume they do, they don’t,” he added.
When he came to an intersection with an oncoming vehicle on a narrow lane road, Harvey did his best to make eye contact.
“You can generally tell by their body language whether they’re going to let you go or not,” he said.
Fortunately, traffic was light Sunday afternoon, even on the major thoroughfares.
Just the right speed
Plowing snow is not a race, it’s a marathon.
Every driver is different, Harvey said. But in his opinion, there’s no reason to exceed 30 miles an hour with several inches of snow on the roads.
There are several reasons why. The potential for black ice. The joggers who won’t be deterred by the worst Mother Nature has to offer. The havoc that can be wreaked by a heavy clump of wet, gray matter flying through the air.
“You see these mailboxes?” Harvey said as we traveled down a road devoid of streetlights or sidewalks. “Sometimes, they’ll pay the price.”
A plow doesn’t even have to make contact.
“The slush will rip them off just as fast as hitting them,” he said.
Harvey said he and his colleagues do their best to avoid that, but there’s a delicate balance to strike. A flat country road is one of the easiest spots to drift just a little and end up in a ditch. It takes a certain degree of speed to propel snow and slush past the white line on the road’s edge.
If a mailbox does end up making the ultimate sacrifice, Harvey said the county will send out a crew to reattach (or replace) it.
Speed also impacts whether salt ends up in its proper place. All roads crown slightly, Harvey said, with the double yellow line at their highest point. Drivers are aiming their brine-salt mix for the yellow line in the hopes of optimal distribution.
“It leaves a nice, even pattern,” Harvey explained. “If you go too fast, it just bounces off the road.”
When we drove across the bridge over Route 30, Harvey slowed the truck to his most conservative speed yet — a mere seven miles per hour.
Spraying snow over the bridge could be catastrophic for drivers below, he explained. He’s hoping to prevent multi-car accidents, not cause them.
‘Everyone looks out for one another’
It can be hard to tell where the road begins and ends during a snow storm — especially in the rural areas.
In Harvey’s flat stretch of northwestern Richland County, bone chilling winds can undo his work in seconds. With less than a year of road work under he’s belt, he’s already seen snow drifts up to his mirrors.
When the drifts get too high, road crews use a “grader” — a plow with a much taller, V-shaped plow, to clear the road for the regular snow plows.
The southern end of the county has its own challenges. The rolling hills around the Lucas and Clear Fork regions aren’t optional – no matter how steep or how slick.
While he’s never had to do it himself, Harvey said he’s seen a truck go uphill backwards so the salt hits before the wheels do.
Fortunately, there’s always another driver nearby.
Each county route intersects with at least one other route, Harvey said. And a radio system connects them all.
“That’s our lifeline,” Harvey said. “If you need anything, if you’re stuck … everybody looks out for one another.”
Drivers also brief each other between shift changes, Harvey said.
“They tell you how much fuel is in the truck, the worst roads, the conditions, if you’ve got to play “Jesus Take the Wheel’ while you drive.”
As he traveled from Route 30 to Rock Road, it was clear Harvey felt a sense of civic pride in the work.
“We’re out here for the emergency personnel right now,” he said. “And the people who work in nursing homes … It’s very important for them to get into their jobs too. There’s people that depend on them.”
As for everyone else?
“If it’s a Level 2, I don’t think anybody should be out,” he said. “Give us time to make these roads safe.”
