The Dallas County Secondary Roads Department will be out after an accumulated snow event doing maintenance to clear the county roads during the winter months.

According to Dallas County Engineer Al Miller, the department will be on the paved county roads in the morning when snow has fallen between the hours of 5am and 5pm. He emphasizes that major state highways like Highway 141, Highway 169, Highway 44 and Interstate 80 are under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Transportation, which provides consistent road maintenance 24/7 during any snow event. Miller suggests being patient with crews, as it does take time to properly clear the roads, as he recalls how nasty last year was.

“Last winter, we only had two weeks of winter there, but we had two 10-inch storms, and the wind blew, and it takes our motorgraders a good day to get around their entire route, and that’s only one-way. They’re going to be working on a storm like that for a number of days, and when the wind blows, it’s really difficult to stay up with that.”

Miller notes that the roads department prioritizes the 180 miles of paved roads within Dallas County, followed by the 650 miles of gravel roads that crews will be monitoring throughout the winter.