Ames, Iowa — A sort of snowplow driving school is getting underway this week for hundreds of Iowa Department of Transportation workers who will be using those big orange machines to keep our roads clear of ice and snow in the season ahead.
Craig Bargfrede, the DOT’s winter operations administrator, says trailers containing sophisticated snowplow simulators are being set up at many DOT garages across the state.
Ideally, before the snow flies in Iowa, a wide cross-section of DOT drivers will have brushed up on their snowplow skills.
Bargfrede has been in the simulators himself and says the experience is very close to being in the large, lumbering vehicles in all sorts of difficult conditions.
While this past Sunday was the start of fall, Bargfrede knows winter weather can sometimes arrive in Iowa early, and his goal is to have all crews and equipment ready for the roads by October 15th.
