County Praises Highway Dept.

Over the weekend, Kosciusko County received 12 to 14 inches of snowfall.

The highway department worked long hours to get the snow off the roads, and their work did not go unnoticed. At Tuesday's county commissioner meeting, the commissioners congratulated highway engineer and superintendent Rob Ladson and the men in his department on a job well done.

"Tell your guys they did a super job," commissioner president Avis Gunter said.

After the commissioners' meeting Tuesday, Ladson talked to the media about the work the highway department crew put in to clear the roads over the weekend.

"We started crews about 4 a.m. Saturday morning with standard procedures. By 9 a.m., we knew we wouldn't be able to keep up with the storm so we went to emergency status," he said.

Plows were assigned to EMS and fire routes. The highway department also plowed in cases of emergency calls, such as life-threatening emergencies, pregnancy runs, emergency medicine, baby formula runs, and, in one instance over the weekend, getting the county coroner to a site. Department mechanics kept the trucks running.

The highway department faced a power outage at 9:30 a.m. Saturday when a utility pole was knocked over and the transformer was pulled down. No one was injured in the accident and the generator was up and running shortly.

"I really wish we lived in a world where accidents don't happen, but they do," Ladson said.

The telephones were also out, but Ladson said luckily the department had purchased cellular phones recently through a special deal county administrator Ron Robinson made with a local company. It took the entire day Saturday to get the power back, Ladson said.

Sunday, the highway department started plowing at daylight. The timing was different from standard procedure for three reasons, Ladson said.

First, he said, they wanted to make sure there was light to see cars stuck in the road. Secondly, they wanted the wind to die down. Third, the crews needed some rest after all their hard work the day before.

The blowing winds kicked in around 9 a.m. Sunday, undoing the work of the previous day. The crews then went back to emergency status.

"They were constantly running emergencies throughout the day," Ladson said.

"When people said we pulled the plows off, that's not actually true. We just went to emergency status," he said.

An accident also occurred on Sunday to one of the loaders. During a white-out, the driver was looking for his turn but couldn't stop, and the vehicle was submerged in Lake Wawasee near Marineland Gardens. The truck sank up to the window of the cab. Luckily, the driver got out. After the county's tow truck could not pull the loader out of the water, a crane had to be contracted to get the truck out.

"We were able to save the truck," Ladson said. "The mechanic had it running the next day."

On Monday, the plows began again at daybreak to allow enough light for the drivers and to combat fatigue. Ladson said throughout the day, trucks got stuck and some broke down, as they naturally do.

Gunter and Jackson both rode in the snowplows Monday, and said Tuesday people do not realize what snowplow drivers go through unless they've ridden in the vehicles.

Ladson said snowplow drivers face traffic, blowing and blinding snow, and even may have difficulty seeing over the plow itself. He said he would advise people to wait to shovel out their driveways because the plowing will just push some of the snow back into the driveways and there is no way to avoid that happening. He said highway department employees are doing the best job they can.

"There were two guys I had to order to go home to go to sleep. There's a high level of commitment from these guys. I'll stand by these guys 100 percent," Ladson said.

Since Saturday, Ladson said, workers were spending their nights at the fire stations and highway department preparing for the next day's work.

There are 23 snowplow routes and three loaders with V-plows, and only two mechanics to maintain all the equipment.

"I would ask people not to call in to the highway department to ask when their road will be plowed. We don't know," Ladson said. "The calls tie up our lines."

The order of importance for snow plowing includes emergency calls first, then main arteries such as CR 700S and the Syracuse-Milford Road. Then the drivers work their way backward until they get to the backroads and subdivisions, Ladson said.

"The majority of the roads are open, at least one lane," he said.

As for the days to come, Ladson said, "Assuming nothing happens the rest of the week, they'll go home tonight and come back Wednesday to widen intersections and plow the rest of the roads."

He said if it becomes evident more snow is likely, they will start planning for another snow emergency.

Ladson said there is no problem with resources, such as fuel, salt and sand. However, if more storms hit throughout January, resources may become an issue in February. The problem Ladson worries about most is personnel fatigue.

And though Ladson continues to think about what he can do better next time, he said, he thought this past weekend storm was handled fairly well.

"A lot of the contingency plans worked and worked well," he said.

When winter is gone for good, the highway department will make its final evaluation and will decide what needs to be refined and what, if anything, didn't work at all.

"We were as prepared as we could be," Ladson said.