Cleaning up after the winter storms

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - For MNDoT and the city of Mankato’s Public Works Department, the weather has been keeping the plows busy this week.

“Each storm is different, and in each of our areas, the guys are reacting to the conditions they see on the road at that particular point in time,” explained Scott Morgan, assistant district engineer.

Minnesota bears the worst of winter storms. Starting from Christmas and heading into the new year, each winter holiday came with a storm.

“This last storm had more blowing snow, visibility problems out west. Here in the Mankato area, we didn’t see the visibility as bad as we did out farther west in the district. And we had a lot more ice that we didn’t have over the Christmas storm,” said Morgan.

In Mankato, the city’s public works department had 23 plows clearing snow since Monday, and they’ve been working from early in the morning to late at night.

“We start right away when the moisture starts falling whether it’s rain, sleet, or snow. We start right away with ten trucks out on hills and major routes. And then, as we get more accumulation, we go to start plowing the major hills, and we go into residential,” said Joe Grabianowski, Public Works superintendent.

Since Monday, MNDoT has sent all 83 plows on state highways and county roads around south central and western Minnesota.

“Give the plow truck some room as they’re pushing snow. They throw up some big clouds of snow and it obscures their visibility and the visibility of vehicles behind. Make sure you put away your distractions and don’t drive with your cruise control on pay attention to the road,” advised Morgan.

“We’ll clean up tonight yet and then, hopefully, tomorrow we can shut down for a little bit,” said Grabianowski.

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