Geared Up and Ready to Go

   If you think the winter weather on the way means more work for you... consider the city worker. "Maybe it comes with age, but you learn to hate winter. Especially if you have to work in it," says Champaign snow and ice supervisor Gup Kramer. Road crews in Champaign expect to stay extra busy with this mix of cold and snow, and they've already put in hours of work and planning just to get ready. "We've been working all day getting the trucks ready, of course checking out the trucks, and that's when you find out some of the lights that are out and hydraulic hoses need to be replaced, that sort of thing," Kramer says. Today Champaign city workers repaired parts, replaced lights and fueled up nearly 20 plows. Then they did what many would expect... filled up the trucks with salt. But city workers say even salt doesn't work well in these extreme temperatures. When the temperatures dip like this it really comes down to plowing; just trying to keep streets clear. "If it's below 20 degrees salt is not very effective in melting," says Kramer. "When it is cold you tend to get dry snow and it's not as slippery it's more like driving on sand. So if we end up with that dry snow we'll be in a plowing mode, just plowing all that off." As you can imagine, city workers have a lot of road to cover. In fact, it's more than 650 "lane miles." That's almost like driving from here to Georgia. "It can be pretty tricky," Kramer says. Nevertheless, if the weather turns as bad as expected city workers will be on the job, around the clock, to keep streets safe. "We're ready to go," Kramer says.