Winter weather is expected for this weekend
"I go through and I do a "B" service which is our yearly service. Changing oil filters, checking all the lights, the hydraulics. Whatever I find wrong I repair." Allan Schroder, the mechanic with the Michigan Department of Transportation in Reed City is busy getting the snow plows ready for this winter. But word that some winter weather could hit northern Michigan this weekend doesn't have Kurt Fritz, the Reed City garage supervisor that worried. "We'll have one person on then. If it worsens then, he will call people in to make effective use of overtime." Fritz isn't all that concerned because some of his trucks have some new toys to make them more efficient and even safer.
One change M-DOT has made is they've added blades to the left side of their trucks so they can clear the highways even faster. "Typically the wings are on the right hand side of the truck and they allow you to get everything off the right shoulder. This new truck this year will allow us to get it off quickly on the left hand shoulder as well." Fritz says this added blade will allow them to clear the highway in one pass instead of two which will save fuel and time. M-DOT has also put new salt spreading devices on some of their trucks that will put the salt closer to the middle of the road. "We found that concentrating salt on the center line is a better method to use when doing your de-icing." Fritz says being more efficient with salt is a good thing since the price of salt has gone up by 30 percent since last year.
