Plowing County Road??

[dodge man]

My suggestion is to get a copy of your county budget, find what they pay for plowing, and then show up at the highway department meeting, and county commissioner meeting with those figures and tell them they can either pay you for the plowing, or you will deduct that amount from your county taxes. If they refuse either, get a good lawyer, take them to court, and roast them. Oh, and roast them in your local, state, and national news media too. Name NAMES.

I’m sure this technique will get Fox News, CNN and MSNBC there right away. Try not paying your taxes and see what happens. Raise a big stink and they will likely put you at the end of the line.

 

[can do]

My county road used to be on a school bus route, which meant that our road was plowed quite often. Since the kids that used to ride the bus not longer do so, our road is no longer plowed, like at all. We have had two separate snow events this winter. Each dumped about 6 inches of snow. For some, that's not a ton, for us, that's worthy of sending the grader down the road, which has yet to happen.

My county road is gravel, well, somewhat. Its mostly dirt with some old gravel they put down at least 10 years ago. Its about 3 miles long, with windy twists and turns and steep climbs. Everyone on my road has my phone number and call me when they inevitably end up in the ditch. Even when the road is plowed, they end up in the ditch. I am happy to pull them out using my tractor.

Here I am a few years ago pulling a truck out
View attachment 771827

Since we are no longer getting plowed out, at least in a timely fashion, I am considering running my tractor with my inverted snow blower down the road and back. What are your thoughts on this?

The county has been receptive of us doing our own road "maintenance" during the summer with washboard smoothing. We just cant use a steel blade for fear of sparking a fire, but they recommended dragging tires and chain link fence down the road. But snow removal might be pushing it?

I donno, just a thought. We are expecting another storm soon, that is forecast to dump about 9 inches in a few days.

I use to plow our road for about 20 years ( private road ) I've lived here for 27.5 years ! & yes I had a few neighbors who forgot to pay ! & who never paid , It got old going around asking or reminding them to pay! I tried to remind them that if there was a emergency , Medical , or a fire that equipment would be delayed trying to get to there home ! Also most of the time I would have the road cleared 4 to 8 ours before the state did the main road that we would pull out on to from our road ! I also reminded them ! That private contractors charge by the hour from the min. they leave from were ever they are coming from ! & that my equipment was always onsite ! & I only charged a 1/4 of what they charge , & it was mostly to pay for fuel, & wear & tear on the equipment ! & when they plow they would just drop there plow , & plow all the gravel ,& the crown out of the road ! To sum it all up I'm retired now I don't need to get out everyday to get to work , Or go anywhere for that much ! So I don't bother doing it anymore , There a total of 7 houses that use our private road 8 counting me ! only 3 of the neighbors would pay on time , & always said thank you for doing the road ! No one ever offered a hot cup of coffee as a nice gesture ! So I also let them know if they want me to do anything to the road they have to prepay to maintain the road or maintenance ! & that also would include snow removal ! & if they want to hire someone else I'm not paying for it period ! I don't like being that way , But some people will just take advantage every chance they get ! & sorry I'm not .

 

[ovrszd]

This thread is like stepping into the Twilight Zone. There's a dozen posters on here I've never heard of before. Not a bad thing. Just weird.

I must be missing a lot of traffic on TBN!!!

I gotta get out more....

 

[LouNY]

Every county may respond differently. I own a farm on a 1/2 mile long dead-end what used to be a county road that I have to maintain. Fortunately my farm is located in the in Oregon's Willamette Valley where a significant snow-fall is rare. When it does happen, it is usually only on the ground for no more that a week or so. In my situation, since the farm has been in my family for over 100 years, there is some "history" as to why the county no longer maintains the road. I am not able to to figure out exactly what happened, but the county told me that at some point there was a discussion between the county and my uncle who was in the ownership lineage and he told the county that he would maintain about 1/4 mile of the road length and the county wouldn't have to do it any more. I can only speculate, but I would imagine that my uncle may have been in non-compliance with a few things and he basically told the county "where to go". At some point in time, the county posted a sign at the 1/4 point that says "Road Maintenance Ends Here" to mark out where the maintenance ends.

When I first inherited the property, I had five 12-yard loads of crushed rock delivered that was spread along about 1/8 mile of the 1/4 mile that the county no longer maintains. The reason is that when my uncle died without a will, there is a second home at the end of the road that was originally part of the family farm, that was sold off and another family now lives there. So technically of the 1/4 mile part of the road, they have to maintain the 1/8 part that is at the end of the road. Since they travel over the 1/8 part of the road that fronts my property, in theory they should also be paying half the maintenance cost of my 1/8 mile too. Since I have a tractor and implements to maintain the road, I initially told them that I would donate all of the labor to grade it and maintain it if they would share the cost of the periodic loads of gravel for the 1/8 mile portion that we share the use of. After several years, to date they have not offered to assist with sharing any of the costs. After initially paying for the the first 5 loads of gravel myself after inheriting the farm, I decided that I needed to take a different long-term approach.

I contacted the local county roads department and they are the ones who gave me part of the "back story" of the relationship that they had with my uncle. I was told that if the county was ever to consider taking back the road maintenance responsibilities, I would have to take some steps. First, I would have to download a PDF file that describes all of the road maintenance standards that are required by the county. Next, I would need to compare that information with the condition of the road and bring it up to their current standards. After that was done, they would send out a "Road Master" to inspect the road to make sure that the standards were met. If the road was in compliance, the Road Master would then recommend that a request to begin maintaining the road again was put before the county commissioners. I was told that there would be no guarantees that the commissioners would vote to take the road maintenance back on. After hearing that, I pretty much gave up on pursuance of doing anything with the county. I asked them why they can't initially send out a Road Master who is more knowledgeable about the rules and regulations and who could quickly zero in on what might need to be done, which would then enable me to gather an accurate cost of any required work and better evaluate if such costs could even be afforded by private parties. That suggestion was pretty much "shut-down" by the county and was again told just to download the PDF file, interpret it for myself and get the work done. Then and ONLY then would a Road Master be sent out. They just weren't very flexible at all.

My current solution is just to let the road go to you know where for now. Since my neighbor has not been responsive to my cost-sharing suggestion and I am unwilling to keep pouring truck loads of gravel on the road with "my own dime", maybe someday the road will get so bad that they will be coming to me asking or complaining about it. To their credit, they have filled the pot holes a couple of times with some gravel, but doing that is merely a stop-gap measure and the gravel is quickly forced out by continued use. What really needs to happen is that it needs to be thoroughly graded, then a larger rock base put down and topped off with smaller crushed rock. In truth, my neighbors at the end of the road drive up and down the road, more than my daughter and her family who live at the farm. I guess that for now, it "is what it is" since I am "caught between a hard place"......between the county and my neighbor.

It is also true that some rural counties are just like me.....they have limited financial resources to pay for maintenance of any kind. With all that is going on......this is probably the "wave of the future". We are all going to need to develop our own networks of friends and neighbors and work together to accomplish tasks that need to be done. We all gotta' learn to work together.

The bad news is that the county won't maintain it.....the good news is that the county won't maintains it and it remains a private road. I put up the private road sign above the county sign.

Interesting read, every State is different in it's regulations on roads.
I know that here there are two different ways the Towns or County can stop doing maintenance on a road, actually three. One they can declare it a seasonal road and post when it will be maintained. There are several restrictions on how that can be done.
Then there is a qualified abandonment where the Town or County "abandons" the road but maintains the right of way. There are numerous restrictions on how they can do so. Then they can do a "total abandonment" 0n a road with even more restrictions on doing so. The major ones are they can not create a land locked parcel by doing so and often the road has to be totally on an individual landowners property.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

Since we reside where it really snows, we carry everything in our truck to get towed out, or tow someone else out and need to do that about ever other year. We carry multiple shovels and a modest winter survival kit in our truck as well. Since our city use largish payloaders with those special snow pushing blade things when they come down our dead-end street, they need to backup to get turned around. So they don't have the space to push the snow out from in front of our garage which is very much, the city street. In the below photo you can see me pushing that snow. This is an early fall photo!@! Instead of whining to the city about there snow removal techniques, people just take care of it. The city can't do it all, or perfectly.View attachment 773336

I think you nailed it, "people just take care of it". Places like this exist off the coastlines

 

[spruce Deere]

Rural living is a difficult thing for some people and county manicupal authorities to understand.

Where I live there tends to be a big dump of snow now and again, as in 3 feet plus over night. Back in 1968 late dec early jan, we were buried in 8 foot of snow in a matter of 24 hours. No lake effect, just how it is in the rockies at times. There was a fleet of snow shovelers, tractors with what ever could move snow mounted to them.

No school, no work for many, roofs caving, county plows, state highway plows paralyzed.....

Between all the neighbors shovels, tractors and a pass from an OLD, wore out old cable blade D-8 from a neighbor that was just 'help'n out', our county road and driveways were once open again, Just everyone helping everybody.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

This thread is like stepping into the Twilight Zone. There's a dozen posters on here I've never heard of before. Not a bad thing. Just weird.

I must be missing a lot of traffic on TBN!!!

I gotta get out more....

I may be one of them, even though I've been here since 2011 I don't post much. But when a topic goes the way this has I have to put my 2 cents in. Or with our new inflation $20 Being charitable is a topic with many opinions.

 

[Gord Baker]

There are in some locales Good Samaritan Rules that free you from Liability in cases where people are stuck or stranded. So many City folk migrating to the country have no understanding of Good Neighbour stuff. "It's so noisy and smelly etc". Stay in your lane!

 

[RoundPonda]

My county road used to be on a school bus route, which meant that our road was plowed quite often. Since the kids that used to ride the bus not longer do so, our road is no longer plowed, like at all. We have had two separate snow events this winter. Each dumped about 6 inches of snow. For some, that's not a ton, for us, that's worthy of sending the grader down the road, which has yet to happen.

My county road is gravel, well, somewhat. Its mostly dirt with some old gravel they put down at least 10 years ago. Its about 3 miles long, with windy twists and turns and steep climbs. Everyone on my road has my phone number and call me when they inevitably end up in the ditch. Even when the road is plowed, they end up in the ditch. I am happy to pull them out using my tractor.

Here I am a few years ago pulling a truck out
View attachment 771827

Since we are no longer getting plowed out, at least in a timely fashion, I am considering running my tractor with my inverted snow blower down the road and back. What are your thoughts on this?

The county has been receptive of us doing our own road "maintenance" during the summer with washboard smoothing. We just cant use a steel blade for fear of sparking a fire, but they recommended dragging tires and chain link fence down the road. But snow removal might be pushing it?

I donno, just a thought. We are expecting another storm soon, that is forecast to dump about 9 inches in a few days.

Plow the road, THEN CHARGE THE TOWN OR COUNTY for your services...!!!

 

[ovrszd]

Plow the road, THEN CHARGE THE TOWN OR COUNTY for your services...!!!

Did they hire you to do it?

 

[Avenger]

Plow the road, THEN CHARGE THE TOWN OR COUNTY for your services...!!!

I'm confused. Did you create an account in 2019, never post anything until this?!

I'm not under any contract with the county to charge them anything. You can't just drop off an invoice for services that you preformed at the road department front office!

 

[Johnb0311]

My county road used to be on a school bus route, which meant that our road was plowed quite often. Since the kids that used to ride the bus not longer do so, our road is no longer plowed, like at all. We have had two separate snow events this winter. Each dumped about 6 inches of snow. For some, that's not a ton, for us, that's worthy of sending the grader down the road, which has yet to happen.

My county road is gravel, well, somewhat. Its mostly dirt with some old gravel they put down at least 10 years ago. Its about 3 miles long, with windy twists and turns and steep climbs. Everyone on my road has my phone number and call me when they inevitably end up in the ditch. Even when the road is plowed, they end up in the ditch. I am happy to pull them out using my tractor.

Here I am a few years ago pulling a truck out
View attachment 771827

Since we are no longer getting plowed out, at least in a timely fashion, I am considering running my tractor with my inverted snow blower down the road and back. What are your thoughts on this?

The county has been receptive of us doing our own road "maintenance" during the summer with washboard smoothing. We just cant use a steel blade for fear of sparking a fire, but they recommended dragging tires and chain link fence down the road. But snow removal might be pushing it?

I donno, just a thought. We are expecting another storm soon, that is forecast to dump about 9 inches in a few days.

 

[Johnb0311]

My county road used to be on a school bus route, which meant that our road was plowed quite often. Since the kids that used to ride the bus not longer do so, our road is no longer plowed, like at all. We have had two separate snow events this winter. Each dumped about 6 inches of snow. For some, that's not a ton, for us, that's worthy of sending the grader down the road, which has yet to happen.

My county road is gravel, well, somewhat. Its mostly dirt with some old gravel they put down at least 10 years ago. Its about 3 miles long, with windy twists and turns and steep climbs. Everyone on my road has my phone number and call me when they inevitably end up in the ditch. Even when the road is plowed, they end up in the ditch. I am happy to pull them out using my tractor.

Here I am a few years ago pulling a truck out
View attachment 771827

Since we are no longer getting plowed out, at least in a timely fashion, I am considering running my tractor with my inverted snow blower down the road and back. What are your thoughts on this?

The county has been receptive of us doing our own road "maintenance" during the summer with washboard smoothing. We just cant use a steel blade for fear of sparking a fire, but they recommended dragging tires and chain link fence down the road. But snow removal might be pushing it?

I donno, just a thought. We are expecting another storm soon, that is forecast to dump about 9 inches in a few days.

Hydraulic Snow Plow Pinnacle Series I got mine from Homestead Implements. Along with a WoodMax 72in. Snowblower on the rear works great on long laneway and the plow has adjustable shoes so you don't tear up your neighbors driveways. And they give military discounts. Both comanies​

 

[Aquamoose]

I plow the county road from time to time during heavy snow storms and don’t expect anything back from the neighbors. If the road that meets the main road is full of slush that can strand even AWD/4WD vehicles, I’m out there taking care of that stuff and nobody bats an eye but they would gladly wait while I quickly clean it up. It’s one of those things that I don’t worry about liability and just trust the hearts of everyone involved because I’m a strong believer that kindness wins.

For YEARS, there’s this old guy who would never wave or acknowledge whenever I cheerfully wave while plowing or driving by his place on our road. He recently started returning the acknowledgment when he realized that for YEARS I’ve taken care of his blocked driveway left by the county plows.

Kindness always fixes things. Especially when you expect absolutely nothing in return.

 

[SonomaCountyGentleman]

My county road used to be on a school bus route, which meant that our road was plowed quite often. Since the kids that used to ride the bus not longer do so, our road is no longer plowed, like at all. We have had two separate snow events this winter. Each dumped about 6 inches of snow. For some, that's not a ton, for us, that's worthy of sending the grader down the road, which has yet to happen.

My county road is gravel, well, somewhat. Its mostly dirt with some old gravel they put down at least 10 years ago. Its about 3 miles long, with windy twists and turns and steep climbs. Everyone on my road has my phone number and call me when they inevitably end up in the ditch. Even when the road is plowed, they end up in the ditch. I am happy to pull them out using my tractor.

Here I am a few years ago pulling a truck out
View attachment 771827

Since we are no longer getting plowed out, at least in a timely fashion, I am considering running my tractor with my inverted snow blower down the road and back. What are your thoughts on this?

The county has been receptive of us doing our own road "maintenance" during the summer with washboard smoothing. We just cant use a steel blade for fear of sparking a fire, but they recommended dragging tires and chain link fence down the road. But snow removal might be pushing it?

I donno, just a thought. We are expecting another storm soon, that is forecast to dump about 9 inches in a few days.

All of your neighbors will probably be grateful unless you screw something up. Then you will be in trouble. Sadly, it’s often a no win situation when you try to do something nice.

I grade the potholes and washboards out of our gravel road whenever they get bad. I don’t know if any of my neighbors realize I do it. I’ve never once been thanked. I’ve been thinking about ordering a few truck loads of road base because we need it. The thing is, I’m just an amateur. I really don’t want the liability.

 

[ovrszd]

I plow the county road from time to time during heavy snow storms and don’t expect anything back from the neighbors. If the road that meets the main road is full of slush that can strand even AWD/4WD vehicles, I’m out there taking care of that stuff and nobody bats an eye but they would gladly wait while I quickly clean it up. It’s one of those things that I don’t worry about liability and just trust the hearts of everyone involved because I’m a strong believer that kindness wins.

For YEARS, there’s this old guy who would never wave or acknowledge whenever I cheerfully wave while plowing or driving by his place on our road. He recently started returning the acknowledgment when he realized that for YEARS I’ve taken care of his blocked driveway left by the county plows.

Kindness always fixes things. Especially when you expect absolutely nothing in return.

Well stated.

 

[Pro Marinero]

I’ve read this with a combination of sympathy and bemusement as my day job is….. a county commissioner in Eastern WA.

Plowing snow in a timely manner is something every county struggles with after a big dump. Last year’s January event was especially a mess that left some folks stuck for a few days. It’s not just Spokane County that struggles with this.

A couple of thoughts:

1) You will not be indemnified if someone pursues litigation against you for working in the county right-of-way. That is simply the law. You could potentially get a franchise agreement to legally work in the county right-of-way if you have a creative public works team willing to work with you, but that won’t shield you from liability. This is the unfortunate situation in our litigious world at this point. Don’t let it stop you, just understand the reality. County staff may be telling you one thing, but the prosecutor is a different department that shows up to tell everyone they’ve all been doing it wrong when the SHTF.

2) Call your public works department and ask to be plowed. You may have to do this after every snowfall if you want it done, but squeaky wheels get grease. Arterials and bus routes get the attention first. After that, plows get pulled in a lot of different directions depending on conditions. If you call you can be assured you have been heard and can monitor performance at that point. Considering the fact that you’re rated as a secondary arterial if you read that right, that’s worth a meeting request with your PW director. I would call and confirm that with PW staff before requesting a meeting though. On the other hand, if you‘re on a winding three-mile goat path no longer has school bus service and is now calling out the arterial status, don’t be surprised if you get knocked down a service level after analysis.

3) Call your commissioner. I don’t know who yours is, but I can tell you from experience that Mary Kuney is good people and won’t blow you off. I don’t know Al or Josh. I take these calls quite a bit, and 95% of the time people simply want to be heard. Have I hung up on some folks? Yep, absolutely. It’s usually the ones that threaten me, say they’re not going to pay their taxes, or have no desire to have a conversation because they simply want to berate me. If someone calls me honestly trying to understand the reason why something isn’t getting accomplished, I will bend over backwards to try to explain why and/or work to fix the situation - or at least improve it. I also appreciate people that pay attention to budgets. Sometimes the hardest part of this job is getting information in front of people who aren’t looking for it, especially as local newspapers continue their death spiral. Don’t forget that 90% of county staff and electeds really want to do the right thing, but the very best ones are willing to be in customer service to find solutions beyond just quoting code and saying ”well, too bad”. I got into this gig to serve the public, and I took a hell of a pay cut for the privilege of doing it.

From what I read, you seem like a good person to work with who should expect to be treated well. I wouldn’t necessarily stop what you’re doing if you can live with possibly having some jackass sue you, but you seem to be at peace with that. I don’t think I gave you anything you didn’t already know, but maybe the folks telling you to just go (insert bad advice) might be able to adjust their own thinking if faced with a similar situation. Good luck.

 

[ovrszd]

I’ve read this with a combination of sympathy and bemusement as my day job is….. a county commissioner in Eastern WA.

Plowing snow in a timely manner is something every county struggles with after a big dump. Last year’s January event was especially a mess that left some folks stuck for a few days. It’s not just Spokane County that struggles with this.

A couple of thoughts:

1) You will not be indemnified if someone pursues litigation against you for working in the county right-of-way. That is simply the law. You could potentially get a franchise agreement to legally work in the county right-of-way if you have a creative public works team willing to work with you, but that won’t shield you from liability. This is the unfortunate situation in our litigious world at this point. Don’t let it stop you, just understand the reality. County staff may be telling you one thing, but the prosecutor is a different department that shows up to tell everyone they’ve all been doing it wrong when the SHTF.

2) Call your public works department and ask to be plowed. You may have to do this after every snowfall if you want it done, but squeaky wheels get grease. Arterials and bus routes get the attention first. After that, plows get pulled in a lot of different directions depending on conditions. If you call you can be assured you have been heard and can monitor performance at that point. Considering the fact that you’re rated as a secondary arterial if you read that right, that’s worth a meeting request with your PW director. I would call and confirm that with PW staff before requesting a meeting though. On the other hand, if you‘re on a winding three-mile goat path no longer has school bus service and is now calling out the arterial status, don’t be surprised if you get knocked down a service level after analysis.

3) Call your commissioner. I don’t know who yours is, but I can tell you from experience that Mary Kuney is good people and won’t blow you off. I don’t know Al or Josh. I take these calls quite a bit, and 95% of the time people simply want to be heard. Have I hung up on some folks? Yep, absolutely. It’s usually the ones that threaten me, say they’re not going to pay their taxes, or have no desire to have a conversation because they simply want to berate me. If someone calls me honestly trying to understand the reason why something isn’t getting accomplished, I will bend over backwards to try to explain why and/or work to fix the situation - or at least improve it. I also appreciate people that pay attention to budgets. Sometimes the hardest part of this job is getting information in front of people who aren’t looking for it, especially as local newspapers continue their death spiral. Don’t forget that 90% of county staff and electeds really want to do the right thing, but the very best ones are willing to be in customer service to find solutions beyond just quoting code and saying ”well, too bad”. I got into this gig to serve the public, and I took a hell of a pay cut for the privilege of doing it.

From what I read, you seem like a good person to work with who should expect to be treated well. I wouldn’t necessarily stop what you’re doing if you can live with possibly having some jackass sue you, but you seem to be at peace with that. I don’t think I gave you anything you didn’t already know, but maybe the folks telling you to just go (insert bad advice) might be able to adjust their own thinking if faced with a similar situation. Good luck.

Excellent post.

 

[ArlyA]

We find that many people like to complain that their ditches weren't mowed, culverts not cleaned out, storm pipes not replaced, snow not cleared fast enough AND their taxes are TO high. Do you see a pattern here?

 

[smartdog]

I live in SW Spokane county. Hard to understand why they will not plow your county road. Must be that your property taxes aren't high enough.

Based upon the property taxes on my 80 - the county road should be gold plated.

I plow a short bit of our county road - access for the mailman. I've always found that my rear blade works just fine. Offset - angled - - go like smoke and oakem.

View attachment 771840

Yes, but it doesn’t look like you have skids on your plow. I have the same set up on my Kubota, and if skids are set for a low blade you scrap up a lot of gravel. If they are set for a higher blade you leave more snow - probably the better way.
Road needs to be fairly smooth + level side to side.