Public Works plows were busy today making sure the roads were cleared and safe to drive on. Thanks to Davenport’s snow desk their job is a lot easier.
"All of the vehicles have an icon and we can tell where it is, so if you click on this particular vehicle right here we can see that it's on Crescent drive,” says Michael Clarke, director for Davenport’s Public Works.
With this technology they are able to know exactly every move the plows make with a GPS tracking system.
"Through this system we know about what the health of the truck is. Where it’s going and what it’s doing, how fast it's moving, is the blade up, is the blade down. How many pounds of salt per lane is it putting out,” says Michael.
Michael says they are also able to tell the temperature of the road, "That's important to gage the amount of salt that we want to start using."
Cameras are posted at every snow emergency route, capturing street conditions.
"We're also in communications with the vehicle operator so we could direct them to higher priority targets as the snow storm presents itself,” says Michael.
Michael says all of it makes their job a lot easier,
"It's more efficient to be able to coordinate the efforts of all of the plows simultaneously and be able to talk to the plows operators and put two of them together if we have an area of higher priority."
All he asks is the public gives them an extra hand, "We ask that everybody gives the trucks a lot of space and let those guys do their job and everybody drive safe,” says Michael.
People living in Davenport should also remember to shovel their sidewalks 10 hours after a snow storm or Public Works will do it for them for a fee.