Snowplows allay commuters’ worries

Published 12:00 pm Saturday, December 2, 2006

HANSVILLE — Dennis Thorne has worked for the the Kitsap County Public Works Department for 15 years and knows the signs of a heavy storm. So when the snow started falling Sunday evening, he readied his truck and prepared himself for at least a few days of plowing, sanding and some fancy driving.

“People have been smiling and waving when I go by,” Thorne said. “People tend to not be set up very well for this kind of weather, especially around here. Cars are not good at handling this weather.”

Thorne is one of many county drivers who headed out as soon as the snow touched the pavement, working their way out from the the major roads onto the secondary ones. They made sure emergency vehicles and commuters were able to travel safely in the hazardous conditions.

“As soon as we know, we even get sand down with not much accumulation to try and keep the accidents down,” said Public Works North District supervisor Paul Woods. “We know all the bad spots, and we try to hit the bad spots on the main roads first. We get stuck too, sometimes, but we’re pretty good at rescuing ourselves.”

Thorne said he’s been in a few tricky situations, but he’s always been able to get out of them, either on his own or with the help of other trucks and drivers. North End roads were pretty slick in some places this time, and trucks continued to resand them in hopes of keeping vehicles between the lines.

“I still get nervous when I come out here,” he said. “If you’re not nervous, when you wind up in a ditch.”

The crews and their trucks are used for a variety of public works projects, but when a major winter storm hits, workers are divided into the day and night shifts, Woods said. The trucks themselves are also versatile, many can be changed into one of four different types of trucks with special accessories, including a mix of a snowplow and sanding truck, Thorne said. They’re like grown-up Tonka trucks, he added with a laugh.

When the weather gets really bad, each shift works 12 hours to ensure that roads stay as safe as possible in the freezing temperatures.

“We go round the clock when we have a storm like this,” Woods said. “We have to.”

“The crews get really excited when we have an event like this happen,” said Public Works public information supervisor Doug Bear.

“They realize how much everyone else depends on them.”