Plowing County Road??

[ismilelots]

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.

Sadly, while your neighbors would appreciate your efforts, without some signed agreement with the county, you open yourself to lawsuits for any damages or injury that occurs after you plow the road. Even if some idiot crashes trying to pass you while you're clearing the road.

 

[1940150]

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.

You do pay taxes on your property, right???

Seems to me that some conversations with your elected county officials are a bit overdue. There will be more elections would be a fairly good opening point.

 

[Farmtruck]

I had a similar situation. I would only plow in an absolute emergency. If you take on road maintenance on your own, you have opened yourself up for liability. You pay property taxes, state and federal income tax, road tax (car insurance and registration fees), fuel taxes and so on.
My advice, go to a county board of commissioners meeting with as many neighbors as possible. Put the county on notice at the meeting. Take away the government's plausible deniability !

 

[ovrszd]

That wouldn't fly around here. Back in the late 50's, early 60's, my cousin drove a snowplow for the township. One stormy Christmas he got permission to take his dinner break here, so he could enjoy Christmas dinner with the rest of his family. He was allowed to back the plow into our driveway so it was off the road, but he had to leave the blade up while he was here, even when it was parked. There wasn't to be even the slightest appearance that taxpayer resources were being used on a private driveway.
If anything, the powers that be are worse about that sort of thing now.

I'm glad I don't live there. Yesterday I installed a driveway tube for a taxpayer.

 

[LouNY]

I am simple amazed at the number of paranoid people posting on this thread and others recently.

I'm glad I don't live there. Yesterday I installed a driveway tube for a taxpayer.

Around here the culvert to access the road the town will often install if it's further up the driveway they don't do them.

Edit.
PS I always plow the snow at least on the right side of my road more then far enough back so the plow truck has no snow on the blade to leave a plow wipe in my driveway. And I'll often plow or clean off bothsides when I finish with my driveway as often I'll push snow across the road while doing my driveway.

 

[Gord Baker]

I likely answered this before, but DO NOT plow the County Road. You could be held liable if someone gets in an accident. Go to your Councilor/Mayor/ Road Supt and demand that your road be maintained Winter and Summer

 

[ArlyA]

This is like volunteering for anything. If someone really doesn't want to do it, just just say you can't take all that liability. See how I helped?

 

[ovrszd]

I am simple amazed at the number of paranoid people posting on this thread and others recently.


Around here the culvert to access the road the town will often install if it's further up the driveway they don't do them.

Edit.
PS I always plow the snow at least on the right side of my road more then far enough back so the plow truck has no snow on the blade to leave a plow wipe in my driveway. And I'll often plow or clean off bothsides when I finish with my driveway as often I'll push snow across the road while doing my driveway.

I know some intelligent, logical men that don't know to clean the road shoulder a distance away from the driveway so I don'r push their driveway full. How hard is that to understand?

 

[Elviscaretaker]

maybe a plow on your tractor?...blowers are great for deeper snow...but they are slow...

I don't find it to be slow at all. If I decide to remove the wash boarding I'll run at about 8-10 MPH and if I'm only going for snow, 20 mph or so. I am running a much larger tractor than most for that though but only a 92" plow so I still need to make a couple of swipes at it. The road is pretty well graded so I'm not worried about jamming and the plow is spring loaded just in case.

 

[Thomas]

I'll push snow across the road while doing my driveway.

That's a BIG no no here,but only enforce if cause damage to vehicle or chucks snow left in road.

 

[Gord Baker]

This is like volunteering for anything. If someone really doesn't want to do it, just just say you can't take all that liability. See how I helped?

Not sure whom that was directed to, but if a driver goes off the road due to possibly getting into one of the snow windrows and decides to sue, you are in deep ****. I used to plow roads For the Township and know the drill.
It seems the older I get, the more others think they know. We are at the point of everyone knows everything and can only answer "I know".

 

[Pleease]

".... pull about a 10 ft railroad rail with a couple of county commissioners tied to it for added weight. This way they can do some useful work.

Now that's funny - thanks for the chuckle!

 

[Elviscaretaker]

We just had a snow "event". Not much but we won't get over freezing for a bit and I didn't want it going to ice. So I plowed the road. no big deal but my wife was happy as she had to use my truck to get out yesterday (she prefers not to drive it) and by the time she got back it was all cleared. Now where I didn't do is sheet ice. AND, no more wash boarding I hadn't gotten around to fixing. When the neighbors decide to go out, they will like that part

I know some intelligent, logical men that don't know to clean the road shoulder a distance away from the driveway so I don'r push their dri

maybe a plow on your tractor?...blowers are great for deeper snow...but they are slow...

Sorry, realized you were talking about the blower being slow! LOL

 

[gckshea]

I wouldn't touch the road with my tractor or a pocket knife. One pissed off county assessor, a disgruntled health and human services supervisor, even a complaining USPS driver, and all liability fingers get pointed at YOU!! Plus, what's your tractor's/your liability and damage coverage off property? It's too risky of a world today to be a good guy.
Get on the phone, and send an email with CC: to everyone county employee, a pointed, direct start to a chain of strong-arm demands. Leave a paper trail so they can't say "we never got you letter."

Protect yourself in this kind of thing...I've seen Good Samaritans such as yourself get burned. God forbid you take out a mailbox, or clip a guardrail, a cattle guard,, or a passing fender.

 

[aeblank]

Quite the discussion.
Maybe it's just me, but I can't live my life in constant fear of liability. Can't help an old lady across the road incase she falls and sues? If someone "wants you", they can come to visit and "accidentally" fall on your sidewalk.

I've widened my road (seasonal) a few times. Neighbor plows, as he has a daycare. For a while a bunch of us chipped in to pay him some. Pisses a guy off when we're being nice and paying and then some people won't chip in. "money is tight, here's $20" when we're paying $150 would be fine. But just "no, I'm not going to" sucks. All the benefits, none of the cost.

I scrape down the slush and blow it away in the spring, too. I do it for me, not for anyone else.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

OK, I feel like I'm missing out on a few things like USPS delivering mail to my home. I either drive, walk or horseback to go get it on the main road, one of the other things I choose not to worry about.
My big tractor is insured for road use and is road legal. Before I had my fuel tank, I'd hook up my trailer full of gas cans, drive the tractor to the closest station (about 10 miles) fill it up and the cans and head back (only thing that pissed me off was how often I had to run my card due to the limits). Perfectly normal in the rural area I live.

Not everyone is looking to sue you. People need to get away from the cities and find out what life can be. Most folks are friendly without ulterior motives. Most of the bad ones you can spot a mile away anyhow. My old place in Washington I did the same as the city that annexed us was incompetent as most there were, about snow removal. Got to say, didn't trust the people there at all though.

Having the ability to help another in need and to not do it for fear of being sued, says a lot about society today. Being something as simple as clearing snow to pulling someone out of a ditch, giving them a hand up, helping in the fields as needed and so on.... is the right thing to do if you can, and says a lot about who the person really is. Don't take offense, everyone has different abilities and equipment.
I'm not talking about the takers here.

 

[Avenger]

It's easy to say "I'll never do it because of liability" or "I wouldn't do it, but I would contact some local leader who has the authority to tell a county worker to do it." Until you get that call, from your neighbor who just slid off the road. She has her 3 kids in the car, all under age 10, are 2 miles from home in a blizzard. She is crying, scared, and stuck, and you are her only help. How could you say no?

Me? It would take too much of myself to say no. I wouldn't ever let myself live that down, knowing that I had the ability to help someone in dire need, but the fear of getting sued stopped me. By the way, this happened that day last week.

I'm not going to the county, roads department, or anyone else. The county road grader did come and grade the road the next day after all. But it was my snow blowing and neighbors plow truck (yes, he risked it all too!) that got the road passable so people could get home from work that night, and to work the next morning. The county was overwhelmed with the amount of snow, and more main roads were in need than my backwoods gravel road. They did get to us when they could. I hold no ill will towards them.

I knew that this storm was a good one long before it came. I prepared for it. I was on the fence about blowing the snow off the road, for whatever reason. That is until I actually did it. In all my years of living there, of owning a tractor, I have never needed to plow the county road. Now, knowing how long it took and what a good thing it was, if we get that much dumped on us again, its no hesitation. I'll be out there, beacons on, doing what I can for my small neighborhood.

 

[Farm-Guy]

Every county may respond differently. I own a farm on a 1/2 mile long dead-end gravel road named after my family along 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 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 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 mile point that says "End of County Maintenance" to mark out where the maintenance officially ends. It is notable that the county typically tops off the first 1/4 mile with gravel every year.

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 part 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 that the county no longer maintains, the family at the end of the road has to maintain their 1/8 mile section. Since they travel over the 1/8 mile section of the road that fronts my property, in theory they should also be paying half the maintenance cost of my 1/8 mile section too. I own a tractor and implements needed, and I initially told them that I would donate all of the labor to grade it and maintain the road 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 inheriting the farm and initially paying for the the first 5 loads of gravel myself, 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 the county requires. 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 those standards were met. IF the road was in compliance, the Road Master would then send a notification to the county commissioners, that the road was now in compliance. I was told that there would be NO guarantee 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 FIRST 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. Doing that would 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 I 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 rock and 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 a private road sign above the county's sign. Life is strange......my neighbor was willing to pay for half the cost ($10.00) for the road sign, but not willing to pay for any road maintenance. I guess that is a start!!!

 

[ovrszd]

I wouldn't touch the road with my tractor or a pocket knife. One pissed off county assessor, a disgruntled health and human services supervisor, even a complaining USPS driver, and all liability fingers get pointed at YOU!! Plus, what's your tractor's/your liability and damage coverage off property? It's too risky of a world today to be a good guy.
Get on the phone, and send an email with CC: to everyone county employee, a pointed, direct start to a chain of strong-arm demands. Leave a paper trail so they can't say "we never got you letter."

Protect yourself in this kind of thing...I've seen Good Samaritans such as yourself get burned. God forbid you take out a mailbox, or clip a guardrail, a cattle guard,, or a passing fender.

I don't understand this at all. As I said earlier, I'm glad I don't live where you do.

 

[ArlyA]

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.