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Farmer helps public works keep roads open
Winfield Public Works tirelessly cleared snow for a week full of snowfall
WINFIELD — Following a long week of back-to-back snowstorms and dangerously low temperatures, Winfield Public Works Department faced significant challenges clearing roads and keeping them clean. Through diligent work and the help of the community, Winfield roads were quickly recovered.
“It was a hard situation to work through for our guys with the public works department,” Winfield Mayor Willie Bender said. “They put in some huge hours, long days. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I’m guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 hours plus for about three days straight.”
Bender says the sheer volume of snow and the freezing temperatures made work especially difficult.
According to Bender, Saturday afternoon Winfield officials closed Nebraska Avenue from Liberty Lane to the curve where it meets West Central Avenue due to these hardworking crews being unable to keep up with the drifting snow.
“That day it was blowing like crazy, probably 25 mile per hour winds or faster,” Bender said. “The guys were snow plowing Nebraska Avenue from West Central out to Dollar General and by the time they’d get done snow plowing it was already starting to blow shut again. So, they made the call at that point in time to just go ahead and close it and wait for conditions to improve so that they could get a better plan of attack on reopening that road.”
When some asked why there wasn’t a snow fence up near Nebraska Avenue and Sunrise Terrace, Bender responded that there was indeed a snow fence put up to try to keep the drifts under control.
“There is a snow fence there but due to the excessive amount of snow and nowhere to move it,” Bender explained. “The snow had to get piled at the end of the road at the curve. This storm has been the worst we’ve had here in over 10 years. … This storm was just too crazy for the snow fence.”
Thankfully, the tightly knit community has a local farmer to thank for helping them quickly reopen this section of road.
According to Bender, Kerry Davis used his three-point mounted snowblower on the back of his tractor to assist crews in opening Nebraska Avenue by Sunday afternoon.
Bender described driving down Nebraska Avenue like driving through a tunnel the next day.
“Basically, I think there’s snow I would estimate three-feet high on each side of the road,” he said. “it would have been impossible to open it up without the help of Kerry to get that done. It was a mess without a doubt.”
Even with the hurdle on Nebraska Avenue, Bender says that he is proud of the way the public works department handled the storm.
“They were beside themselves with the amount of snow that they were dealing with because it was getting difficult for them to get snow off the road,” Bender said. “Basically, the snowbank that they had made on the side of the road had gotten to the point where it’s so high it’s nearly to the bottom of everyone’s mailboxes and it’s just hard to get snow up and over that snowdrift.”
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
