INDIANAPOLIS – As an employee of the Missouri Department of Transportation back in the mid-1990s, Bob Lannert began to notice technology was advancing faster in agricultural machinery than it was in equipment used on snow plows and salt trucks.
In 1998, he began to devise a plan to change that.
“The thought process was we were only plowing one lane wide with most snowplow trucks,” Lannert said. “In the agriculture industry, we went from four- and eight-row planters to 54-row planters. If we could do that on the agriculture side, we needed someone to come to the table and be able to plow two lanes wide above 40 mph.”
So Lannert went to work, and the end result was an invention that’s known today as the Tow Plow. It’s a hydraulic-operated apparatus that connects to the back of the plow truck and swings out into the opposite lane to plow two lanes at once. The Tow Plow cuts down on the amount of time and machinery needed to clear the roads because the plow blade underneath the truck will plow the lane in which the truck is traveling.
“If you’re plowing two lanes at one time, I’m not sure if it’ll exactly cut plow time in half, but it’s going to approximate it,” Indiana Department of Transportation information officer Harry Maginity said.
The one drawback of the Tow Plow? Because it plows two lanes at once, it will block traffic from passing on roads such as U.S. 31 and Indiana 931, where the state plans to use the plows.
“On the other hand, if they’re behind it, they’re going to be at the safest place on the road during a snowstorm,” Maginity said. “They’ll be able to follow this plow at about 35 mph. I think Kokomo is going to be excited about it, because we’re going to move a lot of snow up there, and move it rather rapidly.”
Cody VanOsdol, INDOT foreman in the Greensburg district, said getting people to understand that, with no other road space, they have no choice but to follow behind at a safe distance is a major concern for truck operators.
“It’s going to be different, but hopefully since it’s different to them, they’ll look and slow down,” VanOsdol said. “I think this might actually help reduce accidents because it’s going to slow traffic down. People sometimes aren’t thinking about anything but getting where they’re going as fast as they can, and not necessarily getting there safely. I think this will get them there safely if they just follow our trucks.”
The Tow Plow first hit the market in 2005, and has been tested in the Fort Wayne market for the last two winters. It’s proven so successful that INDOT is duplicating them across the state.
“I’m tickled to death because it’ll be a major asset to the plowing in an urban area like Indianapolis,” Lannert said. “It takes a lot of trucks to plow as many lanes as cities like these have.”