Plato Township Highway Department

Snow Removal

The Road District has almost 39 miles of road including 20 plus subdivisions to service. We divide the miles up into 4 routes. During larger events we will bring in a fifth operator to allow us to devote one of are larger pieces of snow removal equipment strictly to maintain the roads.  There will be times during a snow event when you come across sections of roadway where no material has been applied this is usually due to the fact that the wind is blowing snow across the roadway. To apply material in that area would only cause more snow to accumulate on that section of roadway, so we only plow the roadway. Once the wind has changed direction or dropped to manageable speed we will then apply material and clear the surface of the roadway. 

Snowplow operators do not place snow in driveways on purpose. There is no practical way for the snowplow operator to cut off the windrow of snow when passing a driveway. This problem is especially acute in cul-de-sacs because of the space. One thing you can do to reduce the amount of snow that is stored in front of your driveway is to place as much of the snow as possible to the right side of your drive as you face the street. Residents are advised to wait until the plow has been through their road prior to cleaning their driveway and mailbox area. If drifting or more snow occurs the plows may have to make multiple passes on a road at a later time to keep the road clear. When residents clear their driveways and push the snow across the road it removes any material that has been placed on the road to melt the snow and causes the residents driveway across the road to be filled in with snow when the snowplow returns for a second pass or to clean up.

When we ordered salt this year we reduced our order by 150 tons in an effort to save money.  We then substituted the salt with pre wet chemical so we could use less material and still keep our roads safe. Road salt by itself is only effective down to 16 degrees. When we treat the salt we accomplish two things. We get a better performing material to spread on our roads and we use less of it. The150 tons of salt we removed from our inventory saved the township thousands of dollars this year. The extra chemical we use is already accounted for in the budget. The savings will continue to add up year to year as we fine tune our salt usage.  

The pre wet chemical we use contains a rust inhibitor so as to cause less corrosion to our equipment, roadway structures and bridges. It is safe for our environment and is used in agricultural applications as fertilizer. This chemical when applied with the road salt lowers the temperature at which the salt brine on the road will refreeze and allows the road time to dry by means of evaporation instead of refreezing and becoming ice. 

We have started to pretreat certain hills curves and intersections to keep the snow and ice from bonding to these areas allowing for faster and easier removal of the snow. The pre-treat will last on the roadways for couple of days before losing its effectiveness.

We are constantly trying to conserve our budget dollars in any way possible and use them as wisely as possible without compromising safety!

We appreciate the phone calls and e-mails whether they are complaints or compliments. They are just another tool we use to let us know where there are areas that need to be addressed or to continue the level of service already being provided.

If you had mailbox damage occur from the result of snow removal by the road district please call us or e-mail us we will try to repair the damage if possible and if not we will provide a temporary mailbox until the proper repairs can be made.

If you have plow tear-ups from the result of snow removal by the road district please call us or e-mail us we will try to repair the damage if possible and if not we will come back in the spring and repair the tear-ups with topsoil, grass seed and mat.

I would like to thank the residents of Plato township for not clearing their driveways into the township roadways and causing illegal and unsafe conditions.

The Highway Department crew and I take pride in our jobs and strive for the safest driving conditions for our community.

We will stay on shift as long as it takes until safe driving conditions have been restored. 

You can contact the highway department at any time at anyone of the numbers listed below 7 days week 24 hours a day for any roadway issues. If you have a roadway emergency call 911

A list of roads and jurisdictions have been placed on the website under the following link Highway District Roads to help you find the proper jurisdiction for any issues you encounter during your travels throughout Plato Township.

The Highway Department thanks you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,
Larry Trainor