Crews keep AEDC roads safe during winter weather

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  When the weather outside turns frightful, chances are Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) crews have already been at work, making sure the base and its access roads are passable for employees.

"Our main goal is to keep the roads as safe as we can and to be able to get people to and from work," Tom Penfold, section manager for Aerospace Testing Alliance's (ATA) Civil Engineering Facilities Support, said. That is our mission, and so we apply all the resources that are necessary to do that the best we can."

That effort usually begins well before the frozen precipitation begins. Penfold said his office watches the weather forecasts - from Nashville and Huntsville television stations and the National Weather Service - and coordinates with the base Operations Center (Ops Center). The goal is to stay at least 24 to 48 hours ahead of the inclement weather and prepare for when it may come in.

"We watch all of the forecasts because we're in such a strange area where we get some influence from the north and a lot from the south, and even though the Nashville forecast may call for snow, we may be down here in the little warmer weather and not get anything," he said. We actually have some pretty good experts on the roads and grounds crew itself. They're real up on all the changes in weather, and they'll watch it real closely.

"There's a lot of coordination between us, the Ops Center and Security. Security ... actually has a patrol vehicle that monitors the pavement temperature, and they will let the Ops Center know if the bridges are getting down below 32 degrees. If we're expecting precipitation and they're running at cold surfaces like that then we know we're going to have some issues."

One of Penfold's key concerns is having the right personnel available and making sure they can get on base.

"If it's off hours, there's some difficulty if a guy lives up on the mountain or far away," he said. "Let's make sure he's safely to the base before the snow and ice come in so he can get here and do his job. If it's during [work] hours, then we [may plan] on keeping some folks here instead of releasing them at the end of the day. We have a lot of factors to figure.

"We have a small pool of resources of truck drivers and operators and laborers. We have to watch the amount of hours they work."

Penfold said 15 to 20 roads and grounds employees are available to be called on. The main response vehicles include two trucks with snow plows, which also are salt spreader trucks.

"Those would come out if we're not accumulating yet but we're trying to keep the intersections, bridges and things like that safe," Penfold said. "We'll be applying salt and getting that down and then as it accumulates use the plows.

"Then we have the one brine truck, which is for pre-application. We go put out brine on roads, kind of like the state does, and prepare that on the intersections and primary roads again. We have two graders, which have blades on them that we use inside the base on the roadways to plow and remove snow."

Penfold said several bucket loaders are used to clear parking lots. Smaller equipment like lawn mowers with converted blades takes care of sidewalks and pathways.
AEDC has its own salt supply, which is ordered in early fall. The brine is mixed on base and applied as needed.

Penfold said his budget is based on four major snow or ice events each winter, but last winter included six or seven events, which taxed the budget.

"This year, we're already off to an early start," he said. "We generally do not have December accumulation at all."

He said if drivers would slow down and operate their vehicles properly they could generally make it to the base during winter driving conditions.

"The key factor is speed and not braking [heavily on snow or ice], and you always have somebody who doesn't do that properly," Penfold said. "It's important for Fire and Security and of course the mission that the roads are safe."