City snow blower hits the streets
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POLSON — Snow removal on Polson streets has just gotten easier and quicker. The City of Polson Roads Department recently purchased a snow blower that can be mounted on the front of a small loader.
When the streets are plowed in downtown Polson, a berm of snow forms in the middle of the street.
Before the snow blower’s arrival last week,
Terry Gembala, superintendent of the Polson Street Department, said the practice had been to scoop that snow up with a loader and dump it into a truck to be hauled away.
Now the loader-mounted snow blower, which has a “quick attach,” Gembala said, follows a dump truck, blowing snow into the truck’s bed.
Gembala said the street department employees are getting used to the snow blower. The first day they used only one dump truck, and Bill Smith, loader operator for the city, said it sped up the process so much that he was waiting for a truck. The next day they used two trucks to keep the snow blower operator busy, but Smith said three trucks would be best.
Smith also said the snow blower worked well on Skyline Drive where the snow could be directed over the edge of the hill and didn’t have to be hauled away.
As well as being quicker, it saves wear and tear on the city’s larger loader by utilizing a smaller loader. Its $7,200 cost is offset by a 20-year life cycle, Gembala said.
The snow blower can also be used on snowdrifts in areas like Bayview Drive and Mission View, Gembala said, so the city workers don’t have to break through with a snowplow.
“It saves us probably a day, eight hours,” Gembala said. “It’ll blow a lot more snow and a lot quicker.”
