LITTLE ROCK — Snow blew against the windshield with wipers working feverishly to clear the glass to prevent obscuring the view as Nathan See drove the one-ton truck up and down and up and down city streets blading the snow from the pavement.
“I’m just pushing a little bit of this white stuff,” See said to someone who called his cell phone.
Occasionally slowing as he and another city employee, Gary Tuszynski, passed one another with the snow blades, the two quickly removed the mounds and ruts of snow, although not all the way to the pavement in many places.
The one-ton truck is a two wheel drive, but had chains on the tires. Tuszynski drove a halfton four-wheel drive truck.
“We try to clear enough for two lanes of traffic,” See said.
“People don’t understand how hard it is to remove the snow, especially when there is so much of it,” Mayor Jackie Crabtree said, adding that people probably find that out when they try to shovel snow off their sidewalks and driveways.
The Street Department owns two trucks with snow blades on them and two sanders, but both sanders are out of service. During the last big snow storm, the city worked a reciprocal arrangement with Little Flock and borrowed their truck to put sand on the roads.
“Our hills are first,” See said, when asked about how the department prioritizes the road work. He said department head Larry Majors oversees and works along with the five other men in the Street Department. Many times, they will work throughout the night, depending on the circumstances.
See said the salt and sand mixture helps provide traction and melting of the snow. The city still had some salt and sand left from last year, but the equipment is not working this year. “We use brown sand, creek sand, because it heats faster,” See said.
The city also pays a private contractor with a road grader to clear dirt roads. “His grader will get to the dirt, where our rubber blades won’t,” See said.
“Being ready and having the equipment in a timely manner,” See said is the primary focus of the employees. He said no one subdivision, street or citizen is more important than another.
“They’re (tax payers) all my boss.”
Often there are two men riding in a truck - one operating the blade, the other driving and operating the sander.
The blades used by the city have a rubber edge to avoid damaging manhole covers. Those blades, which cost just less than $400, usually wear out about every three years. The blades on the trucks run by the state are metal.
Two highways - Arkansas Highways 72 and 94 - run through town along Curtis Avenue, Slack Street and Pickens Street. They are the responsibility of the state Highway Department, according to the mayor.
“They usually come through first,” Crabtree said of the highway department trucks.
“Our guys were out there - they worked extremely long hours. They really need to be appreciated for all they do,” Crabtree said, adding that he did receive several calls from residents.
Some callers expressed gratitude, others complained.
As to the affect on the city’s Street Department budget, that has not yet been determined. The mayor said he does not yet know how much, if any, money will be coming from the state for disaster relief.
News, Pages 1 on 02/16/2011