final storm update
Tyler Howe
Residents,
The crew is just finishing up for the day, pavement was scraped and treated and gravel roads were sanded many times. These guys have been on the road for 21 hours and are heading home for some much needed rest.
We had a couple unexpected breakdowns… it happens, this HD equipment and HD trucks dont just come out for show, unfortunately they are worked very hard to give you the road surfaces you expect. They arent parade trucks. Breakdowns happen but the biggest thing to me is my guys health. One truck had a large exhaust leak occur… the truck that is over due and we are trying to replace. The operator stuck it out until it was time to call it. The parts are ordered and hopefully will be here this week, the second breakdown were in one of the smaller trucks that has a very special route. The parts showed up at 3pm and the truck was back on the road in 30 minutes.
During an ice storm, you may notice that dirt and gravel roads remain icy longer than paved roads. This is expected—and there’s an important reason why.
Salt works by lowering the freezing point of water, which helps melt ice on paved surfaces. However, on dirt and gravel roads, salt is not effective and cannot be applied the same way. Salt quickly soaks into the road surface, offering little to no melting benefit, and can damage the road structure by softening it and creating potholes or washouts.
Instead, these roads rely on sand for traction rather than ice melting. While this helps improve grip, it does not remove the ice itself—so conditions may remain slippery until temperatures rise or the ice naturally breaks up.
⚠️ Please use extra caution when traveling on unpaved roads during winter storms. Slower speeds and increased following distance is a good practice.