MTA B&T Gets Ready For Winter

MTA Bridges and Tunnels Maintainer Attila Forgo prepares a truck for snow duty at the Triborough Bridge salt dome area.

With winter fast approaching, MTA Bridges and Tunnels is hard at work preparing for the coming season of snow. An arsenal of cold-weather weapons includes more than 6,000 tons of roadway de-icer, a fleet of 82 snow vehicles, cutting edge equipment and hundreds of employees trained to handle snow-related problems.

“The safety of our customers is our highest priority and we are fortunate to have both dedicated employees and expert equipment at each of our nine facilities to ensure that the job gets done,” MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Susan L. Kupferman said.

Technology plays a vital role in the battle with Mother Nature, and MTA Bridges and Tunnels uses cutting edge equipment and information-gathering processes to help cope with winter weather conditions. The latest technological device, which is being tested on a limited basis at the agency’s Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, is the ice camera. This apparatus uses infrared technology to determine and record atmospheric and roadway conditions such as visibility, wind speed, ice buildup and roadway and air temperatures. The camera is particularly useful in places such as the steel decking of a bridge where a roadway sensor cannot be embedded.

Throgs Neck Bridge employees clear the toll plaza during a record-breaking snowstorm in February 2006.

Even roadway salting, a vital part of MTA Bridges and Tunnels’ $1.2 million snow removal budget for winter 2006- 2007, has gone high tech. Each snow truck is equipped with a computer that regulates the amount of salt spread on a roadway. As the truck increases or decreases its speed, the salt flow is modified to provide an even application. The onboard computer also helps maintain work efficiency because it tracks how much salt is being used and lets snow truck operators know when it’s time to replenish.

The weather detection systems used at Bridges and Tunnels facilities provide operation personnel with data about air temperature, moisture and wind velocity, and also can detect moisture, salinity and the temperature on the deck of a bridge. This provides an early warning system for facility managers about freezing conditions. Bridge roadways tend to freeze sooner than those at ground level, due to colder temperatures and moisture from nearby bodies of water. Once alerted, facility general managers can send crews out to de-ice the roadway deck and prevent or reduce dangerous conditions before ice or snow buildup occurs. The de-icing agent used by MTA Bridges and Tunnels has the melting power of salt but contains a zinc additive that also prevents corrosion of the bridge’s structural steel.

Each MTA Bridges and Tunnels facility has a convoy of dump trucks, wrecker trucks and other heavy vehicles that are easily converted to snow plows when a storm hits. Each also has their own salt dome.