What Do Snow Plow Drivers Do When They're Not Plowing Snow?
February 4, 2022 8:20 AM Subscribe
My state DOT site says there are 481 full time plow drivers. What do these drivers do when there's no snow (and none on the horizon, like now)?
They may do temporary fixes on potholes, clear the road of obstacles (debris and dead animals), do equipment maintenance, inspect roads, help with traffic control set up for construction or other closures/detours, and other road maintenance tasks.
posted by mcgsa at 8:36 AM on February 4, 2022
posted by mcgsa at 8:36 AM on February 4, 2022
In Salt Lake County, "Most of these jobs include roles like concrete layers and sweeper operators in warm months."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:41 AM on February 4, 2022
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:41 AM on February 4, 2022
In the District of Columbia the salting and plowing crews just seem to be the same Department of Public Works employees who do trash and recycling pickups, street sweeping, leaf removal, and so on. But DC is not a place that expects or is equipped for many heavy winter storms.
posted by fedward at 9:01 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by fedward at 9:01 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Every jurisdiction is different. Some cities may contract out snow plowing to private companies as well. But in places where plow operators are full time, year round employees they most often do other road maintenance. Here are a few of them confirming this on Reddit some years ago, with specific details.
Some of the other stuff my local county does include the huge unseen work of moving around asphalt and gravel in order to work on the roads. For every crew you see out there working, a huge amount of preparation was done to bring the materials there first. The visible road work is just the tip of the iceberg. Source: On a county commission tangentially involved in budget decisions for year round road crews.
Here in Pacific Northwest, our state snowplow employees do all of these things, but the highest tier of them also get certified to work with explosives because our three difficult Cascade mountain passes also require frequent blasting to clear dangerous rock overhangs.
Finally, it's only tangentially related to your question, but I will never miss out on an opportunity to remind the world that Scotland gives its snowplows hilarious names and lets you track all of them in real time on a cool map.
posted by seasparrow at 9:07 AM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Some of the other stuff my local county does include the huge unseen work of moving around asphalt and gravel in order to work on the roads. For every crew you see out there working, a huge amount of preparation was done to bring the materials there first. The visible road work is just the tip of the iceberg. Source: On a county commission tangentially involved in budget decisions for year round road crews.
Here in Pacific Northwest, our state snowplow employees do all of these things, but the highest tier of them also get certified to work with explosives because our three difficult Cascade mountain passes also require frequent blasting to clear dangerous rock overhangs.
Finally, it's only tangentially related to your question, but I will never miss out on an opportunity to remind the world that Scotland gives its snowplows hilarious names and lets you track all of them in real time on a cool map.
posted by seasparrow at 9:07 AM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: @seasparrow - Minnesota too! That map is way cool.
posted by my log does not judge at 9:30 AM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by my log does not judge at 9:30 AM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
My bil is a plow driver. He does sweeping; washing bridges, signs, lights etc; road repairs; bridge repair; grading and other road tasks.
posted by Mitheral at 10:25 AM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Mitheral at 10:25 AM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
The guy who was the property manager in my building also did contract snow plowing in the winter. On snowy days he went out and plowed our parking lot and driveway, then did several others and then came back and got on with his usual property maintenance duties.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:56 AM on February 4, 2022
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 10:56 AM on February 4, 2022
In my country we have a drivers licence called "wheels, tracks and rollers" with training to set you up for driving amost anything. Most pf the rest of the time here they are probably grader drivers ime.
posted by unearthed at 11:11 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by unearthed at 11:11 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
In my town we have a few guys who are on the "road crew" so when it snows they're full-time plowers the rest of the time they are working on fixing roads, grading roads, mowing the sides of the roads, trimming trees that are overgrowing roads and power lines, and sometimes cemetery work. The state plow people plow the highways and my town is responsible for the rest of it. The full=time plow drivers are, like others say, working on roads generally and become plow people during inclement weather. We have a cool plow map and cool plow names but, alas, ne'er the twain shall meet.
posted by jessamyn at 11:21 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn at 11:21 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Agreed with others -- my neighbor is a city employee who plows streets in the winter but is otherwise a "the city needs something done with a big machine" guy the rest of the year.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:56 AM on February 4, 2022
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:56 AM on February 4, 2022
NYC (and elsewhere) converts garbage trucks to snow plows when it snows, so I would assume those are driven by year round employees of the Department of Sanitation.
posted by caek at 11:57 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by caek at 11:57 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
In Missouri they invite pretty much every employee to take the snow plow training and then help out when conditions warrant. That includes the maintenance people etc but for example a friend of mine graduated with a degree in civil engineering and was hired as an engineer by MoDOT. One of the first things she did was take the snow plow training. Apparently there is good pay involved and of course overtime.
MoDOT also hires seasonal employees for snowplowing. I would assume that some of those positions are "full time" throughout the season, so part of the answer to your question is what the page means by "full time". But also, that page mentions that they encourage people who have some downtime or flexible work time at another job during winter months to apply for the snowplow positions. So that gives you one idea of what many snowplow operators might be doing when there is no snow.
(And FYI construction is notorious for being seasonal in nature. The MoDOT snow plow driver solicitation page seems almost directly aimed at hinting to construction workers that "hey there, here is some winter work for you to help smooth out your annual earnings." Related, most people don't understand that your DOT directly employees zero or very close to zero construction workers - because construction workers are almost all employed by contractors who bid for DOT contracts. Point being, they are people who work with by not for the state DOT. Many of them are out of work for the winter and not already on the state DOT payroll, thus the need to solicit them.)
I would interpret that page to mean not necessarily that these are all full time year around positions, but rather that they have 481 people employed on a 40-hour a week type schedule right now - or maybe even that they have 481 full-time equivalent position directed towards snowplow operations.
"Full time equivalent" is a common way of counting work force participation - you would count two half-time positions as one full-time equivalent, four 1/4 time positions as one full-time equivalent, etc.
The wording is just vague enough that it could really be any of those possibilities. It's more aimed at giving you an idea of how many staff it takes to keep snowplow operations going than to give insight into their exact hiring practices.
posted by flug at 12:57 PM on February 4, 2022
MoDOT also hires seasonal employees for snowplowing. I would assume that some of those positions are "full time" throughout the season, so part of the answer to your question is what the page means by "full time". But also, that page mentions that they encourage people who have some downtime or flexible work time at another job during winter months to apply for the snowplow positions. So that gives you one idea of what many snowplow operators might be doing when there is no snow.
(And FYI construction is notorious for being seasonal in nature. The MoDOT snow plow driver solicitation page seems almost directly aimed at hinting to construction workers that "hey there, here is some winter work for you to help smooth out your annual earnings." Related, most people don't understand that your DOT directly employees zero or very close to zero construction workers - because construction workers are almost all employed by contractors who bid for DOT contracts. Point being, they are people who work with by not for the state DOT. Many of them are out of work for the winter and not already on the state DOT payroll, thus the need to solicit them.)
I would interpret that page to mean not necessarily that these are all full time year around positions, but rather that they have 481 people employed on a 40-hour a week type schedule right now - or maybe even that they have 481 full-time equivalent position directed towards snowplow operations.
"Full time equivalent" is a common way of counting work force participation - you would count two half-time positions as one full-time equivalent, four 1/4 time positions as one full-time equivalent, etc.
The wording is just vague enough that it could really be any of those possibilities. It's more aimed at giving you an idea of how many staff it takes to keep snowplow operations going than to give insight into their exact hiring practices.
posted by flug at 12:57 PM on February 4, 2022
In the city of Milwaukee, plowing is done by city sanitation, streets, sewers, forestry and electrical laborers. When they get desperate they try to get any city employee that has a cdl involved. (So I've been asked to plow, but used to be exempt because I do essential work, but now that restriction has been raised).
They also hire contractors, and it seems like most of those guys do landscaping the rest of the year.
posted by drezdn at 1:13 PM on February 4, 2022
They also hire contractors, and it seems like most of those guys do landscaping the rest of the year.
posted by drezdn at 1:13 PM on February 4, 2022
It's a certification - pays extra because you're usually working off shift.
posted by ptm at 8:56 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by ptm at 8:56 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
My ex's dad used to drive a plow in winter in a rural area, probably as a part-timer or contractor for the state department of transportation. His day job was selling lawnmowers and tractors; his other day job was looking after the family farm (not very much to do in winter after they sold off the livestock and mostly just grew field corn and soybeans). I think he might have continued to drive for a while after retirement from his other work.
posted by verbminx at 12:41 AM on February 5, 2022
posted by verbminx at 12:41 AM on February 5, 2022
Yeah, pretty much payrolled heavy equipment operators. The job can be driving the steam rollers to do repaving or operating the crane to fix a streetlight or a forklift or a bulldozer or a snow plow or a back hoe.
posted by zengargoyle at 7:25 AM on February 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by zengargoyle at 7:25 AM on February 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
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