By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
NEW SWEDEN — For the moment, the snow has decided it’s not ready to stick around for winter — something that New Sweden Highway Manager Shawn Dube doesn’t mind in the least.
It’s not that Dube’s anti-winter, but he won’t exactly be dreaming of a white Christmas until the town receives its brand-new 2012 Peterbuilt snowplow that was supposed to have arrived on Nov. 1.
Dube is crossing his fingers that the plow arrives in time for mid- to late-December, but New Sweden Selectperson Doug Anderson has expressed his concerns that the plow won’t arrive until January. The reason the plow is delayed, Anderson explained, is because the town opted for a high-horsepower engine — nearly 400 horsepower, to be specific.
That sort of drive is necessary to maneuver a nearly 100,000-pound vehicle up New Sweden’s notorious hills while pushing a tremendous load of snow.
While Mother Nature has been pretty kind to New Sweden thus far by keeping the flurries to herself, Dube, Anderson and New Sweden heavy machinery operator Brian Leighton aren’t waiting for falling snow to figure out a back-up plan for keeping the roads snow-free.
Because of their preemptive work, the Highway Department’s snow fleet will be bolstered with a Maine DOT plow for the interim until their new vehicle arrives.
“The state has been very helpful,” Dube said.
The on-loan plow will compliment the town’s current equipment, a 1999 International wheeler.
While the state didn’t hesitate in loaning the town a temporary plow, the New Sweden workers were pleased to learn that Maine wasn’t the only entity offering assistance.
Though it took a little convincing, the Limestone Selectpeople authorized on Nov. 16 the use of their town’s back-up plow to help the employees of the New Sweden Highway Department keep their roads clear and travel friendly; the vehicle would have been kept in Limestone and taken to New Sweden when necessary (with mileage records kept on the borrowed plow).
“I think it’s great that another town was willing to help out,” Dube said on Monday morning.
The two-man highway department in New Sweden is charged with keeping approximately 84 miles of road clear, plus three dooryards and a bit of contracted plowing for the state and county.
Like many municipal departments throughout the country, the New Sweden Highway Department employees have had to work extra hard to maintain the town’s roads amidst shrinking budgets and increased material costs.
Anderson, a multiple-term selectperson on New Sweden’s three-person board, said that the highway department has about $41,000 less to work with than they’d had in the past.
To put that in perspective, Dube, Anderson and Leighton estimated that it costs approximately $100,000 per mile to hot top a road. Even sand for the roads is a pretty big expense at over $10 per yard.
Yet despite shrinking budgets and rising materials costs, Dube and Leighton are expected to keep the roads drivable whatever the weather.
And with a little ingenuity, a lot of know-how and a little help from their municipal neighbors, they’ve managed to do just that.
