Driving a snowplow isn’t for everyone. It means long hours driving a tank-like truck, and always in weather that would keep many folks at home. We take a ride with a young woman who loves her job.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This winter is expected to bring more precipitation to much of the U.S. That could mean a busy season for snowplows. Today, we meet a young woman in upstate New York who has developed a passion for clearing roads. North Country Public Radio’s Emily Russell reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF POWER-WASHER)
EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE: Inside a cavernous garage in New York’s rural Adirondack Mountains, Alaina Denton is power-washing a big yellow plow truck.
ALAINA DENTON: Right now, it’s basically getting a big bath.
RUSSELL: Denton’s hair is pulled back in a ponytail. She’s got grease smudges all down her arms.
DENTON: Getting all the salt and grime off of it for now until we have to go back out.
RUSSELL: Denton is 20 years old. She’s the only woman on the plowing crew in Keene, New York. She got hooked on big machinery while studying at a local trade school.
DENTON: It makes me feel in charge. The power is all yours. And when you’re in that plow truck, you can control whatever you want to do.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLOW TRUCK ENGINE STARTING)
RUSSELL: A storm that came through overnight gives Denton a chance to demonstrate that control. She drives out of the garage and up into the mountains. This truck has a plow on the front and one on the side to plow the shoulder.
DENTON: Up here is a really snowy, bad, drifty spot. Basically, you just keep pushing it back and back and back.
RUSSELL: This snowy, drifty spot is called Cascade Pass. It’s a narrow stretch of road with big boulders and steep cliffs on one side and a long, frozen lake on the other.
DENTON: All the snow on that lake blows right over onto this road, and we are constantly back and forth fighting with it all winter long.
RUSSELL: About a quarter of all weather-related car accidents in the U.S occur on snowy or icy roads. States like Michigan, Massachusetts and New York have been adding updated plows to their fleets and using real-time data to clear roads more efficiently and use road salt more effectively.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEPING)
DENTON: Bump it up a little bit, turn your spinner down.
RUSSELL: From a touch screen in the cab, Denton ups the amount of salt being spread by a circular spinner attached to the back of the truck.
DENTON: And then when you’re done, you can go right back over and then…
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEP)
DENTON: …Turn your salt off.
RUSSELL: As Denton navigates the twists and turns of Cascade Pass at 35 miles an hour, I can’t help but notice the traffic that’s formed behind us.
Does it ever stress you out knowing that there’s, like, a line of cars behind you?
DENTON: It used to, but then I realized, take your time. They can wait.
RUSSELL: After all, she says, she’s just making sure everybody’s safe. For NPR News, I’m Emily Russell in Keene, New York.
(SOUNDBITE OF ADRIAN YOUNGE SONG, “SITTING BY THE RADIO”)
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