A recent Wyoming Department of Transportation video delved into the safety and monetary value provided by the agency’s use of snow fences, which prevent the formation of snow drifts and slick spots on highways statewide during the winter.
[Above image by WYDOT]
Duard Dilday III, a maintenance staff technician with WYDOT, explained in the video that the agency has installed over 460 miles of snow fences to “capture” snow; preventing it from blowing across major roadways, which create drifts and slick spots that have eventually must be cleared and treated by the agency’s snowplow operators.
“We take a data-driven approach to determining snow fence placement,” he explained. “We go out and we figure out where the worst winds are as far as blowing snow across the road. Then we design and install snow fences to help block the snow from getting onto the road.
[Editor’s note: WYDOT also produced a video detailing the unique way it manages repairs and rehabilitation of its highway snow fences.]
In addition to safer travel and reduced road closures, snow fences help save cost on plowing and sanding the roadways during winter, Dilday said.
“For every $10 invested in a snow fence, that saves us about $100 in maintenance costs,” he explained. “We’re not plowing the drifts off the road constantly; we’re not using the equipment as much; and we’re not paying the overtime.”
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