Icy, frigid conditions make it difficult for snowplow drivers

Another round of snow and ice means Kevin Charron will spend another night in his snowplow.

Charron has spent eight consecutive winters behind the wheel of a plow in Colorado Springs. Monday’s icy conditions and frigid temperatures make his job very difficult.

“Even if we get something melted off, it’s going to refreeze again,” Charron said. “It’s redundancy. You may get a road looking in good shape. Go hit another one and come back 45 minutes later and the wind just carries the snow back across the road.”

“In arctic temperatures, our de-icer can become ineffective,” Streets Division Manager Corey Farkas said. “At that point and time we have to switch plans to go to more anti-skid, that’s our sand-salt mixture, which provides traction and no real snow or ice melt.”

Charron operates his truck with a lot of pride because he knows thousands of his neighbors depend on him.

“I live in this community,” Charron said. “My wife, my kids, travel on these same roads. Anything I can do to provide an element of safety to the driving conditions of the citizens of this community.”

Charron believes the snowplow drivers caught a bit of break Monday morning with schools out for the holiday break.