When it comes to snowplowing, you can’t please everyone

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    Among the various occupations I’ve held since high school, there are two jobs you couldn’t pay me enough to accept: school bus driver and public works director.
    The thought of picking up and delivering 45 squirming rug rats from home to school five days a week scares the daylights out of me. School bus drivers deserve a special place in Heaven.

    Holding a public works director’s job would be okay from Memorial Day to Labor Day when there’s no snow on the ground and you’re only left with gaping potholes to fill.
    But when winter arrives, hang on to your wool caps and Bean boots.
    Our first two mini-storms this month brought out critics in droves. Some town and state crews caught flack when they either didn’t plow the roads quickly enough or reportedly neglected others completely.
    Naturally, most public works directors defend their plowing decisions based on a couple of points:
    1. If you plow too early, you’ll wind up coming back two or three more times. This costs money and manpower.
    2. If you scrape the roads down to the bare tar and we get freezing rain, you’ll wind up with a 10 or 20 mile-long skating rink.
    3. The weather forecast has about a 40 percent chance of being incorrect.
    4. Part of the road is the state’s responsibility, but they’re not always in the area first.
    As someone who drives around 250 miles a week, I’ve seen it all and driven through most of it.
    I once lived in a town where the public works department apparently thought no one went to work before 9 a.m. I think their unofficial slogan was “Let’s see if it melts first.”
    There are also roads I avoid in the winter, but not just because of plowing issues.
    Roads that are lined with tall trees on both sides rarely get sunlight for more than a few hours a day. So the salt doesn’t have time to “work” on the first or second application.
    Then there’s the annual rural mailbox demolition derby, even though some owners were probably warned years ago that their postal receptacle was three feet closer to the road than it should be.
    Unfortunately, road maintenance is also one of the most expensive articles on your average town meeting warrant, and is often one of the first ones to be trimmed.
    I’ve actually covered town meetings where irate residents cut the public works budget because they were unhappy with the way the roads were plowed the previous year.
    That’s known as the “duh!” factor. Do you really think that maintenance will improve with less money? Have you checked the price of diesel and road salt lately?
    So let’s cut the plow guys and gals some slack. It takes a special person to get out of bed at 2 a.m. in subzero weather to keep our roads reasonably safe this time of year.
    And I’m definitely not one of them.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.