‘Logistical Nightmare’: Short On Plow Drivers & Hammered By Weather, WYDOT Had Harrowing Winter

Rotary Plows — those big machines with the whirring blades or brushes up front that throw massive plumes of snow — are usually reserved for the heavy work of blasting open Wyoming’s mountain passes.

Colter Bame frequently had to drive one along Interstate 80 in the low country this past winter, as record-shattering snowfall hit much of the state.

“There was so much snow on the adjacent fields, you never really got a break because even between storms the wind was still blowing on to the road,” said Bame, who is a highway maintenance crewman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation. “At times there were 6- or 7-foot drifts on the Interstate.”

And even though there might have been some clear spots, it was frequently necessary to shut 1-80 down, particularly in the Rawlins-Rock Springs region.

“You can’t control every driver and you don’t want people to hit those drifts going 70 mph,” Bame said.

‘A Logistical Nightmare’

Bame is based in Laramie. However, a few times this winter he had to be transferred to the Rawlins area to make up for crew shortages there, where some of the worst storms were.

And with highway maintenance crews down by about 70 people going into the winter, WYDOT was shifting employees around the state constantly, District 1 Maintenance Engineer Tim Morton told Cowboy State Daily.

“Rawlins usually has a 10-person crew for a ‘normal precipitation year,’ and this wasn’t a ‘normal precipitation year,’” he said. “This winter, they were down to five people, sometimes only four. We tried to keep three or four extra people in the Rawlins area just to keep ahead of the snow.

“It’s a logistical nightmare. You kind of have to leave everybody short-handed, but what you try to do is put everybody you can toward the area of greatest impact.”

Cost Millions More

The cost of all that extra work, and wear and tear on equipment, added up, said Jordan Achs, WYDOT spokeswoman.

As of this week, WYDOT was $9.7 million over its expected budget for this fiscal year’s snow removal, she told Cowboy State Daily.

“We budgeted about $29.1 million and have had $38.8 million in expenditures, with more expected as crews work to clear seasonal closures,” Achs said.  “This number includes staff time, material costs — salt and sand — along with other winter maintenance costs.”

WYDOT gets some federal money, but that’s earmarked for road construction only, it can’t be used for plowing, Achs said.

“WYDOT is proud to have a balanced budget, but like any family who sees a bill come in higher than anticipated, we have to make tough choices about what to delay to make it work,” she added. “Clearing snow in the winter is our highest priority, and this record-breaking winter certainly took its toll.”

With snow removal going so far over budget, some summer projects, such as chip-sealing and mowing, might have to be trimmed back or delayed, WYDOT Public Affairs Manager Doug McGee told Cowboy State Daily.

Irritated Travelers

During the peak of winter, snowplow drivers were on call around the clock, Achs said. They rarely had time to rest.

“Even when it was a bluebird sky day, the wind was blowing so hard that the crews were out trying to fight back the drifting snow. It was relentless,” she said.

Even so, travelers sometimes couldn’t understand why roads were closed.

Livestream internet cameras sometimes showed clear sections of roads, WYDOT District 1 Public Relations Specialist Andrea Staley told Cowboy State Daily.

“We did have a lot of comments from people saying the roads looked clear on the camera, so they were wondering why they were closed,” she said.

But because of wind patterns, there were huge drifts on the sections of highways that the cameras didn’t cover, Morton said.

People also were sometimes baffled as to why they had to stop in larger communities, such as Laramie, for closures that were many miles down the highway, he said.

“Sometimes you can’t close the road where the problem is, because a lot of the time that’s somewhere out in the middle of nowhere,” he said. “What are you going to do, stack up 500 trucks out where there’s no fuel and no services?”

Still Hiring

This winter also took a toll on snowplows and other equipment, McGee said.

“Because of the extreme cold temperatures, we had issues with diesel fuel gelling up, even with the additives in it,” he said. “There were some places where we couldn’t get vehicles to start.”

WYDOT has about 350 trucks and other pieces of road equipment, he said. And because parts can be hard to come by, that number includes some outdated trucks.

“We’re holding on to some trucks that have been decommissioned just to use them as parts farms,” McGee said.

WYDOT is still down dozens of employees and looking for help.

“If you know anybody who has CDL (commercial driver license) and is looking for work, send them our way,” he said. “And even if they do not have a CDL, we can train them.”

Even as winter finally retreats in much of Wyoming, there’s little rest for WYDOT crews, Staley said. They’re busy with warm-weather projects, such as repairing large sections of highway fence damaged or destroyed by drifting snow.

“All of our summer operations have begun,” she said. “We’re diving right into it.”

Contact Mark Heinz at Mark@CowboyStateDaily.com.