After the storm: Crews repair damage to signs

It’s no surprise that when snow moves in, KDOT crews get to work.  But have you ever wondered what happens after the storm hits?  Believe it or not, it can be busier after the roads are clear, especially following blizzard conditions or ice.

Following a snow event, subarea crews must get equipment to the shop for maintenance and repairs as all that ice, snow, sand and salt are hard on the trucks and spreaders.  In addition, the same crews are tasked with inventorying sand, salt and brine and restocking depleted inventories.  They are also the same crews that are out after the storm repairing signs, filling potholes and repairing guardrails that are damaged during the event. 

KDOT Garden City Subarea crew members repair a sign after the Dec. 27 blizzard. 

For example, following the Dec. 27 blizzard, which blew in with 50 mph winds and dumped up to 8-12 inches of snow across western Kansas, crews were back out in the cold and snow repairing a sign on U.S. 50 west of Garden City. A casualty of the storm, this sign had already been repaired two weeks earlier, but was damaged when a motorist slid across the ramp hitting the sign according to Hector Terrones, the Highway Maintenance Supervisor for the Garden City Subarea.

“Digging post holes in frozen ground isn't easy.  But we needed to get the sign back up, so we made it work by using a blowtorch to thaw the ground,” said Terrones.

Terrones and Equipment Operator Jesse Casanova, raised the post and positioned it. Finally, Equipment Operator Ciro Chavez, attached the sign to the post while Hector and Jesse adjusted the post to straighten the sign.

It is thanks to KDOT crews, who brave the snow and the cold, that Kansans can continue to travel our state’s highways.