Secondary roads team preps for possible first snowfall

There is a chance that the same drizzle and rainfall that Adair County experienced Monday could fall this weekend in the form of snowfall, leaving slick spots for motorists and pedestrians and snow to push for Adair County Secondary Roads employees.

The county roads department began preparing long ago for winter, as they do each year. The process begins in the spring and summer, stockpiling materials such as salt and sand that go on roads to help snow and ice melt so slick spots go away and roads are passable.

While in fiscal year 2024 the county only spent $263,198 on snow removal, which is about 4% of their annual secondary roads budget, that number becomes a lot larger when you factor fuel into the equation.

Adair County Engineer Nick Kauffman, of course, hopes that snow doesn’t have to be moved this weekend, but if it does, his employees are ready.

“Our salt and sand sheds are full, and they have been since last spring. As long as we have the budget, we fill them up the previous year,” Kauffman said. “We’ve got our fuel all ready to roll, treated for the cold so we won’t gel up. That has to start well in advance. Then we start getting trucks ready.”

Kauffman explained Adair County has a dozen motorgraders for rock roads, two heavy-duty pickups for town routes and eight large dump trucks that are regularly used for snow removal. They also have a large Oshkosh four-wheel drive truck that can be fitted with a v-plow for the harshest of conditions.

“You do inspections to make sure the trucks are mechanically sound and ready to roll,” Kauffman said. “There are things on the trucks you don’t use all year until it snows. You put the plows on, turn on the spreaders, those things, and make sure it’s going to work.”

Adair County has 791 miles of rock roads and 90 miles of pavement to maintain.

How the road crew approaches each storm is different, but nearly every storm starts with Road Superintendent Adam Comstock driving to determine who needs to come in to plow and when.

While county road departments aren’t 24-hour snow removal operations and aren’t required to remove snow outside of normal business hours by their policy, many counties do move snow outside of normal working hours — including Adair County. Kauffman’s best advice is that the best mode of travel when it snows is to take a state-maintained road because the Iowa DOT moves snow 24 hours a day.

That being said, Kauffman said it’s important for residents to understand various challenges with moving snow, such as more wind that can follow a snowfall. Along with clearing pavement, the crew’s usual priority is to open each rock road to one lane, then they come back later and open both lanes.

“The main thing is slowing down. Cars stuck in drifts really slow us down because you have to plow around them, call the owner or the sheriff’s office to get the vehicle moved,” Kauffman said. “A lot of times we have to plow to help them get it out. Anything that doesn’t involve us plowing the roads is slowing us down.”