ATHOL – In the wake of last month’s destructive nor’easter, it’s likely there are many who are not ready to confront the coming winter. However, residents can be assured that the town’s Highway Department is always prepared for whatever the snow season may bring.
Because each storm is different, Superintendent of the Department of Public Works Douglas Walsh said, “It’s not just looking out the window and putting on a plow. There are so many variables; the duration of the storm, trying to predict what it’s going to do, roads thawing out and refreezing. It’s a constant battle.”
The DPW flushes fire hydrants in the spring. “That’s when we find out whether they’re operative,” Walsh said. They are also flushed and checked in the fall, prior to winter.
No adjustments have been made to the water treatment plant, but the DPW may fluctuate the water levels in the storage tanks to prevent ice buildup.
Walsh said there was no salt ordered this year because there is enough in the salt shed to accommodate a storm or two. Last year, $300,000 was spent on salt and roughly 4,700 tons were used during the winter season. This year, the Athol DPW entered into a central Massachusetts consortium for purchasing salt, sponsored by the town of Oxford’s DPW. Leed Group provides the salt and supplies the Athol DPW with a dispatcher’s telephone number for ordering. Athol DPW Highway Foreman Bob Costa monitors the salt supply and orders it when he feels it is necessary. The salt is trucked in by tractor trailers.
“You have to have an idea of how much you are going to use,” Walsh said. “You always try to keep some on hand because everybody else in the state is calling to order. The bottom line is there are only a few vendors that supply this, and if you have a severe winter, sometimes it’s hard.”
When the plows are called out to treat the roads, the drivers, of which there are approximately 20, load their own trucks. Walsh said as far as clearing the roads, the priority is to focus on the heavy traffic areas including Main Street, Exchange Street, Pleasant Street, and low-to-moderate capacity “collector roads” like School Street and Hapgood Street.
The Cemetery/Park/Tree Division clears the sidewalks on bridges and sidewalks that abut town property. For Lord Pond Plaza and more rural areas, private companies are called in.
Walsh said the equipment is in “good to excellent” condition and he is anticipating two smaller one-ton trucks by mid-winter to replace others. The trucks have to be built because of the hydraulics. Funding was obtained through Capital Planning and approved at a Town Meeting.
This fiscal year (2020), $262,650 is budgeted for snow removal. Last year the budget was $256,250 and $485,665 was spent. “Some years you go way over, some years you don’t spend at all,” Walsh said. “Budgets are so tight,” and sometimes the price of diesel fuel doubles. In order to come up with extra money, something vital might have to be cut from the department. He tries to increase the budget every year, and if they go under budget and the money is unspent, it stays in the general fund as free cash.
Walsh said about 105 total miles (not lane miles) are cleared for each storm. Some wider roads require three to four passes through. The snow is hauled up to Hillside Terrace beyond Highland Cemetery, and it gets full from time to time, he said.
The highway department tries to get to the roads before the snow starts accumulating, Walsh said. “It’s a judgment call,” as road conditions can change. The drivers will pre-treat the roads and keep them scraped and clean if the conditions are favorable, and the police department will notify the DPW if the roads are getting slippery.
“We get the material on the road while it’s still snowing and when traffic can’t move around” said Tom Turner, Assistant Foreman at the Athol DPW. There are five sand trucks, the newest acquired in 2016. It will be 20 years in February that Turner has worked for the DPW and he said that the 2011 October snowstorm was probably his most memorable, recalling that several town trucks were damaged from moving brush out of the way.
Drivers use straight plows or angled plows, with each route requiring a different technique.
Turner said as far as staffing goes, “everybody is out” working on clearing the roads. “The highway department sands what everybody plows.” The drivers will remain on duty “until it’s done,” he said. “Then you can go home, call it a day and go to bed.”
Reach Kathy Chaisson at 978-249-3535, ext. 656, or kchaisson@atholdailynews.com.