County Road Crews Gear Up for Winter

The Butler County Engineer’s Office is pleased to report that its Annual Snow Plow ROADeo will occur on Thursday morning, October 26, 2023, at approximately 10:00 a.m. The BCEO is committed to the safety and well-being of our community, particularly during the winter season, and the Snow Plow ROADeo is just one of the many initiatives they undertake to improve the overall winter road maintenance services provided to Butler County motorists.

The ROADeo is a yearly refresher course on snow plow driver safety and an opportunity for area townships and municipalities to come together to participate in friendly competitions and showcase their skills on the BCEO grounds. Drivers will maneuver through an obstacle course designed to simulate actual winter road situations, each vying for the best time and most accurate truck maneuvers. An Equipment ROADeo will also occur in the truck bay, and operators will compete using an excavator.  

Before the activities on Thursday, the drivers will begin with classroom training from BCEO Operations Deputy Scott Bressler and CDL Field Representative Jim Warner from the Ohio Department of Public Safety. BCEO snow plow crews will gather on Wednesday for a small training session of their own, then clean and prepare their trucks with salt box and plow installations. Final preparations will be to refamiliarize themselves with their routes or learn about new routes by performing dry runs.

The BCEO will begin this winter season with 13,000 tons of salt stored in two barns, each with a capacity of 6,500 tons. This year, the BCEO awarded its salt contract for the upcoming winter season to Morton Salt, which submitted a low bid and fixed rate of $90.31 per ton (dumped), a five percent increase from 2022. BCEO snow fighters will be ready with sixteen snow and ice control routes and two 12-hour shifts of 19 employees to ensure every county road is treated quickly and efficiently to keep motorists safe this winter.