GREEN BAY (NBC26) — As the snow fell Thursday night into Friday morning, Avi Carr-Gloth went on a ride with one of Green Bay's snow plow drivers to learn the tricks of the trade.
- Early wake up calls and odd hours are nothing new for snowplow drivers, but what is it actually like to plow snowy streets?
- Snow plow drivers in Green Bay carry out an often thankless task while managing unusual hours and time away from family.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Eric Peters is one of Green Bay's 16 snowplow drivers. They have 30 minutes to get to work when called. Shortly after, they hit the road.
This is Eric's fifth winter plowing Green Bay's streets and he says his institutional knowledge of his route has made him more efficient and effective.
"Where my areas in my route get busy, what roads get snow covered first, each road is different," Peters explained. "I kind of figured that out and I kind of figured out where I can start, where I'll end up, where I'll run out of salt."
Green bay is 45.5 square miles and has 560 lane miles to clear. Experience has made Eric's work easier, but depending on the snowfall, not always faster.
Another driver, Jason Loppnow, says the hours exact a cost.
"Your home life changes because you don't know what time the snow's going to start," said Loppnow.
"To go around neighborhoods, circles and circles and circles for 12 hours, it starts to weigh a toll on you a little bit," he said. That's one of those things that I don't think people understand how long it actually takes to plow a city."
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Josh Brassfield, the Green Bay Street Superintendent, is often the one making those early morning calls to the drivers.
"We're a very driven society," Brassfield said. "We need to get somewhere, and we need to get there now and these guys are out there not as an inconvenience, but they're actually trying to help."
"A lot of people think 'Oh the snowplow driver is loving it because he's filling in my driveway for me to shovel," Loppnow said. "Well, it's technically not really true."
"We're clearing out the roads so people can get around safely," he added.
Spending hours alone in a truck is hard for drivers, especially those with families. But they know their work affects them and the entire city when they need it the most.
"My oldest daughter has a swim meet tomorrow out in Clintonville," Peters said. "I don't know if I can go to it or not."
"If we have plans made to go to dinner one night and all of a sudden it snows I have to cancel," he added. "It's definitely not an easy thing to do, but getting the salt down, plowing the snow off the road makes it easier for the people around the city to make it down the road without accidents."
