BURLINGTON, Vt. -
VTrans has plans well in advance of any storm to clear the roads of snow. And each plowers day starts plenty early.
"We started at 2 o'clock this morning," VTrans area supervisor Dan Champeny said.
"About 9 o'clock we'll switch shifts."
In that time District 5 VTrans crews clear 950 miles of road lanes covered in light fluffy snow. VTrans worker Art Danyo listens to the weather report over the radio as they say...
"It would be nice if it had a little more water content in it"
Danyo just shakes his head and says "No."
He likes the snow the way it is. Easy to move off the state highways he manages.
"Keeping the equipment moving, keeping the personnel in the right places, making sure the public can travel at the safest speed that we can provide," Danyo says.
That's thirty six total plow trucks working on that goal. Shooting to never leave a stretch of road untouched for more than two hours.
"There's really no rest. We don't have enough employees to do that," Danyo said.
"A lot of the focus is on the traffic that's on individual roads."
That's why they have an entire game plan for how to handle the storm which includes a color-coded map indicating which state roads need to be cleared the quickest. The interstates take priority, followed by Route 7, then other state roads.
"I would expect to see the Interstate (89) bare, if it stops snowing, by 10 or 11 o'clock tomorrow.
But until then VTrans has a role for you in their plan to plow the roads.
"Just give us a little room and be patient," Danyo said.
