Plowing County Road??

[jyoutz]

You probably have similar snow (dry) to us here in Central Oregon. And sometimes, on the bigger snow events, the county doesn't have the time to get out here either. Usually there is enough traffic that the road gets packed down within a day or so. But if I felt that I needed/wanted access, I would plow their road it in a heartbeat .... if I could. I don't have a snowblower so I can't comment on their use. All I have is a rear blade turned aound backwards and Edge Tamers on my loader bucket. The rear blade seems fairly fast to me though if there were were several feet of the white stuff, I would probably be out of luck. Personally, I would probably dig out the neighbors approaches to their driveways and, if they didn't have a tractor, I would probably plow their driveways too (love brownies and cookies). I realize you don't have a rear blade, but they aren't very expensive as compared to many other implements.

I do the same as you. When the snow is over 15” deep I lower the bucket to within 4” of the ground to push the deep snow and then move the rest with the back blade (turned backwards).

 

[dodge man]

I live in Whitman County, just South of Spokane. Our county has a population 47,000 of which half live in the City of Pullman. The county is responsible for 2000 miles of roads and 300 bridges to maintain and keep free of snow. It has a budget of $373,000 a year to not only remove snow, but to maintain the bridges and roads, fix drainage problems, maintain signage and anything else in regards to their roads. They not only don't have enough equipment to plow all the roads on a timely basis, they can't find enough people to hire to drive the equipment that they have. If we were to demand that all the roads be cleared to at least one lane by noon of the following day, quadrupling the budget would not be nearly enough funds. If a county commissioner evens hints at raising taxes, he would be voted out immediately. So good luck on pounding your fist on a County Commissioners desk.

I get it, people don’t want to pay more in taxes, but that budget is a joke. That’s a budget for near zero maintenance. That budget doesn’t allow for a bridge to ever be replaced. You might rebuild one small bridge for $300,000. If I were the county I’d just start shutting roads down until people start to pony up.

 

[orezok]

The legal distinction is if the road is an official county road with a county number. If so, they are legally responsible for maintenance to provide year round access, unless it is posted for seasonal use only. I’d be willing to bet that the roads you refer to are not official county roads. Maybe BLM, state, or private?

Nope, the County has accepted them as roads, and all have names and street signs, but did not accept most of them for maintenance. Years ago they did accept some for maintenance, but they soon realized that continuing was financially impossible. San Bernardino County is the largest county in the US (and the world) and extends almost up to Death Valley. 50,000+ sq miles. Bigger than 18 states. (Edited - bad math)

Some times there is 5 miles of road servicing one house. In the 60’s you could homestead any parcel of 5 acres by living on it for 5 years. People built all over the place on a whim.

 

[jyoutz]

Nope, the County has accepted them as roads, and all have names and street signs, but did not accept most of them for maintenance. Years ago they did accept some for maintenance, but they soon realized that continuing was financially impossible. San Bernardino County is the largest county in the US (and the world) and extends almost up to Death Valley. 50,000+ sq miles. Some times there is 5 miles of road servicing one house. In the 60’s you could homestead any parcel of 5 acres by living on it for 5 years. People built all over the place on a whim.

Well that’s new to me. Everywhere I’ve lived when a county accepts a road on its books, it gets assigned a maintenance class and the county has responsibilities. There are many roads where I live that are private and the county won’t accept them unless they are brought up to standards first.

 

[Cougsfan]

My concern is the liability. I do have a beacon on my tractor, so hopefully people would see me before plowing into me. I'd keep the snow off people's property and into the ditch. Hopefully I'd be able to do a better job than the county could with their grader.

I'm also concerned about the county coming down on me. I don't want to go to them to ask for permission. I'd rather beg forgiveness.

If there is enough snow to where you need the blower, I doubt seriously anyone is going to get on your case for taking care of your road. The beacon on your tractor should do a good job of making you visible.

 

[RjCorazza]

I have plowed out lots of neighbors over the years, but some are plain nasty. I had one guy that i plowed out for 2 years for free (never even offered me a candy bar much less fuel money) call and scream at me because i didnt plow him out early enough after a bad storm. After he unloaded on me i let him have it. Hardly ever spoken to him again. Sometimes being neighborly doesnt help.

My experience has been similar with both snow plowing and lawn mowing. For many years I helped neighbors out with snow, but it eventually evolves into an expectation of service. That's likely ok for one or two neighbors, but it spiraled out of control control for me. I now charge a small rate for any repetitive work like snow plowing or lawn mowing.
I still do one-off jobs gratis for neighbors all the time... Mower broke? Going on vacation? Snow blower won't start? I got it.
Cut grass every week? Plow snow by 0700h each snow? .. Pony up!

 

[lman]

Unless you're wealthy, I would not plow a county road without compensation. That liquid gold is too costly to give it away. You're paying twice to have the road cleared. Once by paying taxes and again by paying for the liquid gold to run your tractor. I have limited the use of my tractor since the price of diesel fuel climbed to the sky.

 

[bdhsfz6]

If your town "encourages" you to do summer road maintenance, I would check to see if you are covered by township insurance before doing any plowing. As previously mentioned, you may assume the liability if there is an accident.

 

[Cougsfan]

I hate it when people present miss-accurate information in forums. I hate it even worse when it is me. Our total county road budget is $19,000,000. The $373,000 is a contingency fund, usually used for snow removal.

 

[Avenger]

If your town "encourages" you to do summer road maintenance, I would check to see if you are covered by township insurance before doing any plowing. As previously mentioned, you may assume the liability if there is an accident.

They didn't "encourage" us (my neighbor and I). We went to the roads department together a few years ago to complain in person about the horrific washboard that was accruing on the road. I asked them when they plan to grade it since its been months. That's when I learned about their concern about sparking wildfires off their grader blades. They said they wouldn't stop us if we used something like tires and chain-link behind a pickup or tractor. They mentioned that when I said I'd take my back blade down the road.

Unless you're wealthy, I would not plow a county road without compensation. That liquid gold is too costly to give it away. You're paying twice to have the road cleared. Once by paying taxes and again by paying for the liquid gold to run your tractor. I have limited the use of my tractor since the price of diesel fuel climbed to the sky.

I completely understand that. I'm not too hip on the idea of burning fuel and time to do something the county should do. But I also understand that my little neck of the woods is very low priority for snow removal since there are very few homes on my road. What's more important to me is getting in and out safely. Especially with my wife's SUV with our small children in the backseat.


What happened last night: I was coming home from a friends house about 9pm. I came down a steep hill doing about 15mph on compact snow, ice, and loose snow. The bottom of the hill goes around a blind corner. I was in 4 wheel drive in my truck. There was a small car, parked just at the bottom of that hill in the road. There was enough room coming down, but people get a run at that hill going up, around that blind corner. IF someone was going up, and picked up some speed going around the corner, they run the risk of plowing directly into that car. Looking at the tracks, the driver of that car couldn't make it up the hill and decided it was a good idea to park it there. I did call crime check (non-emergency police) to report it, as I didn't recognize it and didn't know who it belonged to. Today, the car was gone when I went into town this morning. Maybe, if the road was plowed, the driver of that car would have been able to get up that hill.

Is that my problem? Yes and no. I get a run at that hill, and so does my wife. Or maybe worse, the driver walking down the road at night getting hit.
Complaining to the roads department is like talking to a wall. County commissioners are worse. Besides, I'm not really the type of person that relies on the government to actually solve problems. But I know they will drop the hammer if they think I did damages to the dirt road by removing the snow. I'm torn.