Town approves grader attachment

Times Reporter 

 

No one likes to think about snow when summer has just ended, but unfortunately to be ready it must be considered. Jesse Parker, director of operations and engineering for the Town of Strathmore, brought a request to council at the Sept. 18 council meeting for a snow gate grader attachment.

The town currently has two graders, a medium duty one and one that is used for light duty. 

The medium duty grader is a John Deere 770 grader and is largely used for windrowing snow ahead of the snow blower in the winter months. It is also used to help with snow clearing on the roadways as needed.

“One of the challenges we’ve encountered with windrowing is managing the windrow during the winter months,” said Parker. 

A windrow is a pile of snow that accumulates during plowing. Some of the windrows are being carried through intersections and along driveways and access points, which can be an issue with snow removal and access onto roadways. 

A snow gate will help solve some of those problems. A snow gate is a hydraulic attachment for the grader blade that interrupts the windrow while grading. 

If the blade is tilted and you’re clearing snow the snow falls off the end in typical operations, said Parker, but with a snow gate at the trailing end of your blade you have the ability to lower this, and it acts almost as a box blade and traps the snow. You can drop the snow gate and control the windrow so that it doesn’t spill into a driveway or an intersection and you can drop it on the other side.

“It does help with managing that and keeping intersections open without a second piece of equipment or the grader operator reversing and coming back to clear the windrow from the roadway,” said Parker. 

The gate will allow them to specify where the windrow will be and allow the grader operator to strategically place the snow until removal. Parker said the town has made a step towards using more plow trucks; there are two plows and two sanders. The grader doesn’t plow all of the roadways, and so there will still be windrow issues in some areas of town.

“In terms of the expectation that residents won’t see a windrow at the end of their driveways, there will still be a windrow on most driveways but in problem areas we’ll be able to use this piece of equipment to help as needed where we can assist the public,” said Parker. 

Council approved the motion to create a 2013 Capital Project for a snow gate grader attachment. The cost of $9,400 for purchase and installation will come out of the Financial Stabilization Reserve.