City sticking to tried, true method of snow removal

City of Fort Scott street crews are ready for whatever the winter season has in store.

Street and Traffic Supervisor Chad Brown said his seven-man crew and equipment have already begun preparing for winter and are ready for any type of winter weather event.

"We've got trucks and stuff ready, already," Brown said. "When we start depends on the forecast. We started (preparing) last week."

As far as equipment, Brown said the city maintains two plow and spreader trucks, a road motor grader, as well as backhoes and loaders that are "always ready to go." He said the city doesn't have any new equipment this year.

"We use the same equipment we've always used. It's the tried and true method," he said.

Brown said workers use a mixture of salt and rock for application on wintry roads. The rock used is called Aggregate Ice Control (AIC), which helps with traction.

"And the salt it's mixed with is a melting agent," he said.

Brown said vehicles and equipment are housed in the city's public works building at 2104 Sidney St. The salt and AIC mixture are stored in bins in an old building in the Belltown area near North National Ave.

"I know we've got about 50 tons of salt, which is excess, and 300 tons of stuff (salt and AIC combined) already mixed up," he said.

Brown said city crews don't typically run into problems with supply during the winter season. He estimated that last year, about 150 tons of the AIC and salt mixture were used on city roads. He said crews use the same mixture on roads whether they're dealing with snow or ice.

"We use the same mixture for both," he said. "Salt's pretty ineffective at temperatures below about 17 degrees. At that point, we just hope we can take it up with the plow and keep ice control on it to give people plenty of traction."

During winter weather, city workers are split into two different crews and work 12-hour shifts, Brown said.