Pictures of your towns and states snow removal equipment.

[tcreeley]

I take the snow removal and sanders going past the house for granted. They are local contractors- gravel in the summer, snow in the winter. Our town has its pile of sand and salt as does every town in this area.
Clicking through accuweather I came across pics of a recent snow storm in NC and the many accidents that resulted. One picture stood out.

I never thought about it much. As a kid in western Mass. every town owned a V plow for the big storms but I haven't seen those on the roads for many years. This is the type of setup I see going past my house. The plow on the side is useful for fully clearing the road and knocking down the snow banks when they get too high, or just before a big storm moving in. These trucks usually have sanders on the back end for salting.

Every region has different needs and adjust to those needs. What's in your area?

 

[Z-Michigan]

I don't have photos, but I'll try to describe. My county gets huge amounts of snow, with several populated areas averaging 240" per year, some remote but moderately traveled areas getting more, and our "banana belt" getting over 100", probably more like 140". There are four main tools in use on the roads:

1) Standard highway plow trucks, very similar to your second photo. Painted blaze orange and slightly bigger, but not that different. These are the mainstay, especially for keeping roads clear during a snowstorm.

2) Road graders equipped with the middle grader blade, a front V-plow, and a wing blade. These are used for pushing banks back farther onto the shoulder, and opening up or clearing rural roads that don't get constant attention.

3) At least one huge articulated wheel loader, the upper end of construction size or lower end of mining size, equipped with a snowblower on the lift arm that is probably 5-6 feet tall and 6-8 feet wide. This is used for removing the shoulder berms in areas where a simple push won't do it, such as when there's a wall or steep slope, and for clearing sidewalks, and also for clearing at least one fire department lot.

4) An assortment of generally older snowblower-equipped trucks that are mostly used in town for removing berms along narrower roads, either throwing the snow into yards or sometimes into municipal dump trucks.

Here's a link to some photos of typical winter snow in one of the towns that averages 240":

calumet michigan in winter at DuckDuckGo

 

[Peter 315]

NH DOT trucks

 

[ArlyA]

Well gee, we live in the snow belt so we tend not to take photos of them. Sorry about that. Here is one taken working just down just the street from our home. Our little town has 2 of these Snogos. I believe they have one of those dedicated 4wd truck with a extra engine and a front mounted blower. Can't really comment on that. All these payloaders have winter or snow tires on them.

 

[tcreeley]

The bigger towns clear the sidewalks as well. Though usually they leave it up to the residence and store owners. They use a combination of plows, V plows, and snow blowers. The straight plow is the most common. This one is taken in Ellsworth, ME They get going when the snow gets too deep for the people abutting the sidewalk to keep up with it. Safety and business are the concerns.

 

[Mechanos]

MoDOT Tow Plow

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YJEgkbq_b2Q/maxresdefault.jpg

MoDOT Tow Plows In Action - YouTube

 

[M5farms]

 

[woody49705]

CT DOT PLOW YOUTUBE - Yahoo Video Search Results

 

[George2615]

NYS uses the same type equipment as in Mechanos post. I've also included a chart of materials used on the roads. And people wonder why our vehicles rust so quickly.
Towns and cities use a combination of contract 4WD 1T trucks w/ plows, dump trucks w/ PA front and wing plows, large loaders to load snow into dump trucks, skid steers with plows and / or blowers.

 

[Peter 315]

MA DOT uses straight salt and Magnesium chloride 10 gallons per ton