This is the second installment in the 51°µĶųās series on highway safety. To read about Jasperās avalanche control team, check out our story in last weekās issue.
As his plough truck āEarlā rumbled along the Icefields Parkway, Marc Lavigne craned his neck and peered at the mountains through the windshield.
āItās probably one of the reasons Iāve done it for so long,ā he said. āThis is my office.ā
Lavigne has been a plough operator with Jasper National Park since the early 90s, although he likes to call himself a āsnow fighter.ā Heās part of a team of 23 people responsible for keeping nearly 330 kilometres of the parkās roads clear of snow and safe for drivers.
Almost every morning, before the sun rises, he jumps in a plough truck and makes the 150 kilometre trek down the parkway all the way to the Saskatchewan River Crossing.
Jan. 24 was a clear day with almost no snow on the road, but Lavigne explained that even when the weatherās beautiful they still check the road in its entirity.
With such a large area to cover, thereās no guarantee that the conditions they see in town will remain the same out in the sometimes-treacherous mountain pass. And when a storm is raging, it can get pretty hairy behind the wheel of a plough truck.
āEverybody thinks āwell itās the snow plough, he can see,ā but thatās not the case,ā Lavigne said, slamming the gearshift down as Earl lurched up a steep hill.
He pointed out his lights, which sit above the plough blade, and explained that they do little but reflect back at him off falling snow when the weather gets dicey.
In fact during some storms he can barely see a few feet in front of him. If the light is particularly bad he often canāt even tell where he is on the road.
He pulled up pictures snapped through his windshield during a bad storm, and the only thing visible is an endless wall of white. At times like those, he said, itās little more than āmuscle memoryā getting him through.
On those days, after driving for a whole day, laser-focused for every second just to stay on the road, Lavigne said he comes away with āplough head.ā
āItās like youāve been totally concentrated and focused for eight straight hours. Your head gets right goofy. You almost get in a daze,ā he said.
Marion Lee is Parksā highway areas manager. Sheās worked in Jasper for seven years, and knows how tough the plough operatorsā job can be.
āMy guys are expected to be on the road when nobody else is expected to be there,ā she said. And thatās on top of the complexity of driving a plough: worrying about laying sand, running the computer, the lights, the radio and operating the blade.
āIāve worked with many crews, and this crew is amazing and exceptional in their pride in their work,ā she said.
Listen to Lavigne talk for just a few minutes and that fact is clear. He talks with an almost fatherly concern about the size of snow drift on the side of the road, or keeping corners properly ploughed to reduce the risk of people ādropping too lowā and crashing.
As he chattered, he noticed a bank starting to form on the shoulder of the road. He dropped the plough blade, sending an arc of snow sailing from the asphalt.
āI keep this road tuned up, man; Iām not fooling around,ā he said. āThereās a lot more to it than people realize. You just donāt go, āOK, itās winter time now we plough.āā
When the road is clear, Lavinge said he spends a lot of time grating the shoulders, clearing snow banks and moving sandāanything to ensure that when a big dump of snow finally does come heās as ready as possible.
When that does happen, he has to work as hard as he can just to keep the most dangerous sections clear. Lavigne said on those days he āholds out for as long as [he] can,ā getting as much of the road clear as possible before he has to turn back.
Like anyone with experience driving in the worst weather, he complains constantly about how clueless drivers can be, but the idea that someone might run into trouble on a road heās responsible for troubles him.
āI like to act like itās my sister, or my mom coming down this road. I want to clear it as best as I can, because I donāt want anybody getting hurt on my watch.ā
Trevor Nichols
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