County highway garage preparing to battle Old Man Winter, when he arrives

Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Times Reporter IVY JACOBS

The Clay County Highway Department’s crews are early this year preparing to remove winter snowfall and ice on almost 700 miles of county roads. Considering 2020 has been a year of disharmony in many areas, getting ready for a potentially temperamental Mother Nature seems a safe bet. The highway department has a building full of salt/sand/calcium mixture at the garage facility located at 409 N. S.R. 59 and a game plan in place. Drivers know to arrive early the evening before a potential winter storm’s projected arrival, in case intersections and other trouble areas along the roads need to be pretreated. Otherwise, as snowflakes flittered down Monday and temperatures dropped, drivers know it’s a waiting game before they attack the falling snow with snowplows, graders, and the sand/salt mixture. The crew knows they will be out there - no matter when winter arrives or how long it takes to clear away the snow and ice - until the roads are safe.