When the white stuff falls, snow-removal love may be obscured

By JIM FOTI, Star Tribune

Last update: March 1, 2009 - 10:12 AM

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You've just shoveled your driveway to a state of snow-free perfection. You're ready to step inside and kick back with hot chocolate or something stronger, but just as you're about to walk in the door, it happens: The plow comes by and barricades your driveway with a hard, dirty berm of snow.

I got to ride in a Minnesota Department of Transportation snowplow a few days ago, and one of the many things I learned is that plow drivers don't just do this to you -- they do it to each other, and they even have a word for it.

As we traveled along Interstate 94/694 near Hwy. 169, plow driver Terri Schreifels got on the radio to warn his colleagues that he was about to undo some of their work: "169 crew, we're gonna stuff your ramps again." (Fortunately, the 169 crew, unlike the average homeowner, has more than an old Toro to clear things up.)

A stuffed driveway is just one of the ways that snowplows vex people, so when I recently got a call from a public works official in Iowa who wanted to know which Twin Cities communities were known for good plowing, I found no glowing reviews in my files.

So this past week, I challenged my online readers to say something nice about snowplowing -- and I wound up with an unexpected blizzard of affection.

"South St. Paul is outstanding." "Maplewood plow drivers are the best in the Twin Cities!" "Great job, Rosemount snowplow drivers!!!!" There were a few critics in the mix, but even Duluth, with its steep hills and brutal temperatures, got a couple of shout-outs.

I only wish the snow-removal love had been as apparent from my seat in Schreifels' plow, which was traveling in a three-truck platoon that took up all the freeway lanes. This large, rolling blockade and its accompanying clouds of snow weren't sufficiently scary to keep various motorists from creeping up close and trying to figure out whether there was a way to get around -- or, more astoundingly, between -- the massive machines.

Memo to drivers stuck behind plows: Relax and enjoy the clearer pavement. It's hardly a fate worse than death, something that's a very real possibility.

A brand-new bottleneck?

Alert reader Carol called Roadguy to report the loss of two lanes in the "devil's triangle," the three-part intersection being redone on the Brooklyn Park/Osseo border. In her voice mail, she said she wanted the engineer who came up with the configuration to be sentenced to drive through it five times a week -- in the snow.

Chris Roy, MnDOT's manager for the northern metro area, has some good news for Carol: The lane reductions on 85th Avenue are temporary. So perhaps Carol will reconsider her harsh sentence.

Jim Foti can be reached at 612-673-4491 or at roadguy@startribune.com.

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