Dozens of plow trucks from pickups to big rigs rumbled to life before dawn Friday morning in the Forestville parking lot of the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation. Orange lights rolling, they took to the county’s roads after a quick inspection.
All that was missing was the snow.
A department spokeswoman said the annual test run of hundreds of vehicles, drivers and their routes is part of preparing for the half dozen or so snow storms each winter that blanket the 1,800 miles of roads the county plows.
“We’re ready,” said Susan Hubbard, “whether we have a lot or a little.”
Driver John Thompson of Upper Marlboro climbed into a 10-wheel dump truck, waggled his shiny black plow blade back and forth a few times, and pulled out onto D’Arcy Road. Without a 10-ton load of road salt and sand, the truck bounced down the road as Thompson drove a portion of his almost 10-mile route between the Capital Beltway and the Washington, D.C., line. A hanging pine tree air freshener, scented “Black Ice,” bobbed along the inside of the windshield
Thompson drives this circuit several times whenever there is enough precipitation to merit spreading de-icer or actually dropping the plow during a snowstorm. Friday, he looked for skewed manhole covers that could catch the plow blade and heavy steel plates set down on the road during construction. A broken water main seeping water up through the pavement at one intersection caught his eye.
“That could ice up,” Thompson said.
An 11-year veteran with the department, Thompson did duty during the 2003 blizzard when more than 18 inches of snow blanketed the region.
“It was miserable,” Thompson said, chuckling. “We made a lot of money but it was miserable. I think we went two weeks straight.”
But, he said, the biggest hazard by far is residents who venture out during a storm. Their driving endangers not only themselves but others, too, Thompson said, including plow drivers like himself.
“People need to stay in their houses,” Thompson said, “and just let us do the job.”
