County Preps for Winter Weather

A snow plow clears a Bentonville neighborhood road Feb. 1, 2011.

A snow plow clears a Bentonville neighborhood road Feb. 1, 2011.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

— The Benton County Road Department has stockpiled supplies, refurbished its equipment and waits for the onset of winter weather.

Scott Stober, public services administrator, said he and other Road Department employees have spent about a month drawing up a set of policies and procedures, organizing winter weather shifts and getting equipment squared away.

At A Glance

Road Department Ready

Scott Stober, Benton County’s public services administrator, said the Road Department has bought some new equipment and repaired some older gear and expects to be ready when winter weather arrives. According to information from the county, the Road Department has:

-Serviced all snow/ice removal equipment

-Installed plows and salt spreader beds onto trucks

-Installed magnesium a chloride tank onto a truck

-Inspected and replaced as needed studded tires on all trucks

-Equipped all trucks with chains

-Moved all equipment to locations where they will be dispatched from

-Replaced bearings, conveyor chains and cutting edges on equipment that had rust or corrosion from salt from last winter

Source: Staff Report

“It will all be based on where we’re getting the worst weather,” Stober said. “Our priorities will be hillsides, intersections, bridges and paved roads.”

Stober said the Road Department is working on a map showing the department’s road-clearing priorities in the event of snow or ice storms this winter. When completed, the map will be posted on the county website at www.co.benton.ar.us.

Stober said the ounty has about 1,400 miles of roads to maintain, but the winter weather plan has identified about 700 miles as the most heavily-traveled and in need to work in ice or snow. About 500 miles are paved roads and another 200 miles are gravel, Stober said.

“Realistically, we’re telling people we’re basing our plans on about 700 miles of roads,” Stober said.

The county’s winter weather plan calls for Road Department crews to keep the main roads “passable” in the event of an ice or snow storm. The policy defines “passable” as a road surface that is “free from drifts, snow ridges, and as much ice and snow pack as is practical, and can be traveled safely at reasonable speeds. A passable roadway shouldn’t be confused with a ‘dry pavement’ or ‘bare pavement,’ which is essentially free of all ice snow and any free moisture from shoulder to shoulder.”

The county has divided its work plan into three levels of service. Bridges will be treated with salt and sand when there has been an accumulation of an inch of snow. Paved roads, intersections and hills will receive an application of salt and sand when there is an accumulation of 2 inches. Graders will be sent to these areas when 4 inches of snow or more is received. Gravel roads will be worked on after all hard-surface roads have been cleared under the policy, which also says no operators of equipment will be dispatched for snow removal on gravel roads until at least 3 inches of snow has accumulated.

Weather patterns will play a large role in determining the county’s response, Stober said. The department will get weather information from the county’s Emergency Services Agency and rely on the Benton County Sheriff’s Office for more information on road conditions. The department’s response is also dependent on the terrain in different areas of the county. Cindy Jones, Road Department coordinator, said four-wheel drive trucks are typically used in the hilly areas around Beaver Lake, while road graders can be used more frequently in the flatter areas of western Benton County.

Justice of the Peace Steve Curry from Gravette is also a school bus driver, so he’s familiar with county roads in his district on a first-hand basis. Curry said he also regularly hears from his constituents about road conditions.

“Every year, the school district has each driver pick out roads or portions of roads that are not driveable in the winter,” Curry said. “As far as schools go, if there’s very much snow the schools are closed. Talking to constituents, they seem to do a pretty good job of it.”

County Judge Bob Clinard said he thinks the Road Department performance in the winter storm of 2011 demonstrates the department’s level of professionalism.

“They’ve got a plan, they’ve got people designated to work in one part of the county or another,” Clinard. “We’re ready to go if we have an incident. The snow event we had in 2011, I didn’t hear anything but positive comments.”