salting, and other winter road updates

i know folks at the other place have shown some concern. but its impossible over there for me to explain anything without it turning into a fight. so ill try here, in the hopes that you people can explain it to others more peacefully than i can to update the situation in hammond as it relates to winter storm preparedness throughout the winter.

there is no shortage of salt. in fact hammond has already used about 650 tons this winter, as of early yesterday (more like 1000 tons by now). most of that was bought last year at about 40 bucks a ton or less and included a calcium chloride chemical mixed in. unfortunately, the salt that is now on its way to hammond, cost more then three times that amount. the city can get all it wants...but it will cost about 130 a ton.

the first minimal snow we had a couple of weeks ago. the city attempted to do what chicago, highland, merrillville, and many other area communities are doing this year, by limiting salting to mains. hammond has always focused on mains and put minimal salt on side street intersections. as most of you know, that didnt go over very well with residents.

so yesterday, with ice covering the entire city, the city increased its salt usage. despite the increased salt usage, because of the much lower temperatures, the effectiveness of the salt was less, resulting in more salt needing to be used. side streets were again salted at intersections, and in the middle of each block, but because of the reduced temperature, the effectiveness was either mixed, or at least short lived.

even worse, indot did nothing to its streets within the city of hammond until at least 10 am. this caused several incidents on gostlin near the state line, and calumet ave in particular (there was a minor bus crash there, no injuries)...as indot, who is now using a damaging to sewers salt/sand mix in hammond, and is cutting back to the extent that at some times they will apparently completly neglect state roads in hammond. the city is currently urgently trying to discuss the situation with indot.

we have more salt on the way to fill our hammond salt dome once again...and are all on standbye for an expected storm of 2-4 inches tonight (tuesday)

i was surprised they let most of us go home today for now. about 6 guys are still out on the roads as of 230. the rest of us expect half to be called out in a few hours and the rest around 2am to prepare for morning rush.

Are there new drivers? I have noticed in several places in Hessville that there are largish piles of salt at some intersections.
For obvious reasons posting a question on the other board is futile.

there are a handfull of new guys, and yeah bill your house lives on one of their routes. what happens is when they have to shake the salt back they raise the bed and back up quickly. the new guys take a few tries before they figure out how not to go back to fast. but hey, if your smart you dont have to buy salt for your walkways this year! just go grab a shovel full out of the street lol!

all the big trucks got called out a 530 tonight btw.

i drive a smaller white truck and am replacing a guy retiring at the end of the year, and thus am spared the hell of working 29 out of 32 hours for now (btw you dont want to even guess where my route will be lol) ! if you see one of those guys out in the morning steer clear. they are going to be tired and likely stressed!

Oracle honestly you should stick to the mains only. Save some money


the street in front of my house has yet to be plowed, and it is not a main street either, but I am not complaining(its been fun watching people slide on the slight hill though), because the town of Chesterton has alread stated that residential streets are secondary this winter

usually they do stick to the mains while the snow is still falling. but im sure they will make at least a couple of passes on the resis by morning.

personally i'd rather drive on snow in the morning than ice. im not sure id rather they plowed by street. but the perception of most residents is if their street isnt plowed then the city doesnt care about them. and well, as wes always says the people are the boss.

its supposed to let up. so maybe some of the guys will be able to get a few hours sleep around midnight or so. but believe me, it isnt my call.

Michael Swiger wrote:

Why did the cost of salt triple?

The bad winter last year, the flooding along the mississippi this year kept supplies from getting out.

Also I read that over the summer, a couple of the sites that they get the salt from flooded as well during the hurricanes

mike finally got in lol!

according to a story i saw, the missisippi river froze longer last year. and that combined with the heavy snowfall last year meant supplies were depleted.

and apparently, 9 months is not enough time to replenish the salt supplies. i know that sounds crazy but that's the story i read.

edit must have been the same paper as mike!

Not ot butt in on steves description but from years past they may go into the residentials sometime tonight if it is a full call out or after nine tomorrow morning. By that time most people are off to work or school. It is supposed to be 25 and partly sunny and believe me there is nothing better for a plow driver then seeing the sun come up after plowing all night. Good chance Steve will get a call about 3:00 this morning to come out and do the mains in time for rush hour. I have heard some mention of an investigation into the price gouging of salt by state and federal officials...but we know how that goes!

As a side note dont be surprised if you start seeing some major potholes in the next couple of days. It is only natural for them to pop up with the freeze thaw and the icy conditions. Better sharpen that shovel Steve... the cold mix is waiting for ya!!

there have already been a few big ones. one on columbia, and the construction area of 169th come to mind.

ive already filled many of those wholes a few times. and likely will dozens of more times before the winter ends. anyone that finds a bad whole can pm me the location, and we will try to get to it asap (usually within a couple of days) that is what i do mostly this time of year.

if you have a distance to travel to get to work tomarrow, id suggest departing now!

this one looks very bad! the only good news is that the latest reports have it coming in mostly overnight, which means its possible that the main roads wont be too bad in the morning. but if we get the full 12 inches they are now saying could happen...getting out of your driveway and sidestreet could be damn near impossible for cars...and difficult even for trucks.

another reason to stay off the road. one of the regulars in the white trucks started vacation today at 2. and im filling in his route for the rest of the year. :headbang: so if you are out, beware, and good luck!

Did you see the videos from Seattle? Looked like 10 cars over time tried to drive up this hill and with the pavement was so slick as they reached the top they lost all traction and slid down to the very bottom. Thankfully Hammond streets are fairly level. LOL

I was watching a video from somewhere and there was a car at the bottom of a hill and the car ahead of it kept on going until itlost traction, slid down and then the car that was waiting tried and failed and slid into the first one


If I was there, I would be going another way

I had the unfortunate opportunity to salt the Nine Span Bridge on an occasion where the State couldnt get there. I had to back my salt truck up the bridge while throwing salt for traction. Did the North bound side OK but the South side was worse...if you know that bridge you may know that the sidewalk that used to be there ends midway. That is where my truck slid into the curb...all I saw was RR tracks and my life flash before my eyes. I HATE FREEZING RAIN!!!

Not fun, to be sure.

I wonder how many people have had that sort of a life & death thought? I've had my share, which is why I believe in angels and Divine interventions.

I know I have driven on roads after an ice storm, and nothing is scarier

The worst was when I was on I-80 through Colorado in 1998, and an ice storm hit. I pulled off the interstate and got a hotel room for2 days until I-80 was salted and cleared.

long day today. the ice absolutely didnt want to break up. and between 2 and about 10 am...it seems we accomplished next to nothing on roads that didnt have a constant stream of traffic providing friction.

finally the salt started penetrating a little bit...but let me tell you, when the plow catches the ice all of the sudden, and the ice is too thick to move, so the back of the truck comes around within an inch of a parked car...its a scary thing!

oh well, alls well that ends well. i made it home safe around 7 tonight, and didnt damage anybody else either.

but nobody can complain about us using too little salt today! i bet we went through 200 truckloads!

Back in the Golfis days I remember having to chain the plow to the truck frame to stop it from flipping over as it is supposed to. When you hit a manhole cover like that it is like hitting a brick wall

Isn't it amazing how one section of northern Indiana can get a lot of ice, yet another doesn't?

In Chesterton, they got snow first, then ice, but not as much ice as Hammond or Valpo

The power outages are the same

i recognize it doesnt look like we did much. but the hammond street dept just got off a 30 hour full call out this afternoon.

the snow sticking on ice was the main problem. we had pretty good success on the mains, thanks to the temperature and a whole bunch of salt. we pushed back any loose snow on all the residential streets we could get to as well.

but throughout the night last night, it seemed like every time we got a handle on the situation...more snow kept coming and needed to be plowed away.

unfortunately the underlying layer of ice, even with the help of all the rain...just wouldnt budge. and with cold forecast for christmas day. i advise extreme caution on all the residential roads tomarrow, especially getting in and out of your car. very slippery to walk on. but as long as you approach intersections with caution. your car shouldnt slide too much.

but the mains look great and easy to get around on. even with the colder weather....there should be enough salt on them that they should be fine...but be carefull on bridges.

warm temps are coming toward the weekend. looks like the ice will be taken care of by mother nature before long.

being my first full overnight snow call out. all i can say is wow! i dont know how these guys do it all of the time. driving those things can be pretty intense. driving them for 30 hours straight is amazing!

now. i guess were on standby thanks to a flood watch! shouldnt be too big of an issue for hammond however. as the river isnt in jeopardy. it is possible though if there is a power outage that there could be some local sewer issues tomarrow. but thus far we think we will be ok.

Oh how I long for the "good Old Days"...NOT!

I went out on Indy blvd by Woodmar before 8 this morning and it was a big sheet of ice. Had to crawl at 15 MPH going northbound. When I headed home, the major roads were salted and were clear. Many of the side streets are still very hazardous. I am hoping that it warms up enough to melt the ice because driving down my block is very slippery. I talked to someone who works at Community Hospital's ER and they are treating tons of people because of weather related car accidents and falls. Try to stay safe.

sparks wrote:

I went out on Indy blvd by Woodmar before 8 this morning and it was a big sheet of ice. Had to crawl at 15 MPH going northbound. When I headed home, the major roads were salted and were clear. Many of the side streets are still very hazardous. I am hoping that it warms up enough to melt the ice because driving down my block is very slippery. I talked to someone who works at Community Hospital's ER and they are treating tons of people because of weather related car accidents and falls. Try to stay safe.

It was like that all over Lake and Porter County this morning

IN 49 in Porter County was closed this morning, and every road in Chesterton was a sheet of ice, same with Valpo from what my friend told me

The days when I drove a plow truck...