Clay County engineer Justin Sorum says his department’s 11 snowplows, 11 trucks and two industrial-size snowblowers are ready to tackle the county’s 1,600 miles of roads. (Photo/Minnesota Department of Transportation)

County crew is ready for winter

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The sunny days and record temperatures of November and early December were a welcome gift for the Clay County Highway Department’s 23-man maintenance crew. “It was a nice change from last winter,” county engineer Justin Sorum reports. “Everyone got to relax over Thanksgiving.”
But now that winter is finally blowing in, they’re ready to go. “We’re looking at the forecast every day – watching every newscast, keeping an eye on the apps on our phones, paying attention to every bulletin from the National Weather Service,” he says. “No two winters are alike, just like no two storms are ever the same. We’re ready for them.”
The laborious, lingering winter of 2022-23 was a rough one for the Clay County crew. Responsible for plowing snow on 741 miles of county highways and 875 miles of township roads, mostly gravel, the staff knew no such worry-free relaxation as they enjoyed on the most recent Thanksgiving. “The guys worked every single holiday weekend last year – that, or they were on call,” Sorum points out. “Last winter was a tough one. The wind really killed us.”
But El Nino or not, the county highway crew has been getting ready to take on the Minnesota winter since October, when they began getting their fleet of 11 heavy-duty trucks, 11 road graders and two industrial-strength snow blowers ready. The equipment is stationed in seven shops around the county along with the main building in Moorhead’s MCCARA Industrial Park, where two technicians are stationed to keep it all running.
Last winter was Sorum’s first as the county’s head engineer after three as the assistant. A graduate of North Dakota State University in 2014, he holds a degree in civil engineering.
Keeping the county’s 1,600+ miles of roadways clear can be a challenge. According to Sorum, it takes a full 12-hour shift to clear those miles … after the wind has finally wound down. During storms, however, it’s a different story. “If it blizzards all day, obviously we can’t keep them all clear, no matter how hard we work. At times, the drivers clear one mile of blacktop, then basically turn it around and do it all over again,” he says.
Preparing for the snowy onslaught began in October. While his crew was mounting wings on trucks and graders (the side-mounted accessories that push plowed snow into the ditches), other members of the staff were meeting with county school personnel to go over their bus routes. In coming months, the Clay team plans to participate
When the weather worsens, the highway crew works closely with Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting and emergency manager Gabe Tweten on monitoring driving conditions. “Sometimes we’re in contact with the sheriff five or six times a day during a blizzard,” he says.
Sorum’s department shares what it observes on the road with school administrators, too. The county has begun to participate with NDSU, area school officials and other agencies in the 4 a.m. teleconferences that precede those decisions on severe weather days. He looks forward to continuing that collaboration this winter. But the responsibility of deciding whether to declare a snow day rests with them.
“If it’s not even safe for our plows, we call them in. That’s a big deal,” Sorum admits. “We don’t like to do it, but we will when it’s necessary.
“We have open lines of communication with the sheriff, and we work closely with him. Ultimately, the decision on closing roads isn’t up to us.” He adds, “No storm is ever the same all across the county. What we see in Georgetown can be completely different in Barnesville.”