It’s been sunny and relatively warm with temperatures comfortably sitting in the 60s this past week, but Iowa Department of Transportation employees are busy preparing for winter. Craig Bargfrede is the DOT’s winter operations administrator and he talks about the upcoming plow season for Iowa DOT staff.

“In our world, October 15th is actually the official start of the winter season and that runs through April 15th,” said Bargfrede.

The agency’s 900 plows and other snow-moving equipment are being brought out of storage for tuneups and maintenance.

“Making sure everything is functioning properly on the trucks, plows, blowers – we’re in the process of doing calibration on all of our spreaders to make sure the material is being dispensed properly and accurately across the board,” Bargfrede says.

Over the summer, the Iowa DOT stocked storage facilities with nearly 230-thousand tons of salt to use on roads this winter. Normally, however, the DOT only uses about half of that tonnage annually. Looks like the Iowa DOT is extra prepared for whatever weather this upcoming season has for us.