How MDOT tackles winter

On this week’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Mark Geib, MDOT engineer of operations and the head of maintenance - meaning, he oversees statewide efforts to clear snow and keep state highways passable.

Mark talks about innovations in clearing snow and ice and practices adopted by MDOT where winter maintenance officials are always looking for ways to stretch taxpayer dollars by making salt go farther, which also provides environmental benefits.

We’ve come a long way in snow plowing since the 1930s. A few years ago, MDOT received this 1930s-era newsreel from sisters Nancy and Barbara Sleeper of Newberry, whose grandfather, Sanborn Sleeper, was the superintendent of the Luce County Road Commission from 1928 until sometime around World War II. The Sleepers donated the film to MDOT for public display. The film offers a glimpse of the era when Murray Van Wagoner, a future Michigan governor, ran the department from 1933 to 1940.

A perennial question during winter storms is why more salt is not being used. Mark explains how temperatures determine when salt is used and when it can be effective.

A bill in the state Legislature would encourage MDOT to use “organic additives” (such as sugar-beet by-products) to reduce use of road salt and seeks testing at some water crossings.

Other innovations discussed include the tow plow, introduced by MDOT in 2013 to increase efficiency and plow more lanes in fewer hours.

Links

- Innovations in clearing snow and ice:
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2018/12/31/road-salt-worth-bad-environment/2356069002/

- 1930s-era newsreel:
https://youtu.be/NH20lpFu_3Q

- When salt is used:
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot/MDOT_Salt_Cure_258508_7.pdf

- Organic additives bill:
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2019-2020/billanalysis/Senate/pdf/2019-SFA-0379-A.pdf

- Tow plow:
https://youtu.be/PIp04N6pLvw