GREENSBORO — The city is thinking ahead.
On a sunny Wednesday morning, veteran and new staff members from the Department of Field Operations practiced operating snowplows and salt trucks in the parking lot of the Greensboro Coliseum.
It’s an annual operation to get workers ready to efficiently and effectively clear snow from roads.
It also just happens to be occurring during a string of summer-like days better made for snow cones than actual frosted flakes.
One of the snowplows moves to the start of the closed course on Wednesday.
During the exercise, new employees maneuvered the vehicles around and through cinderblock barriers and orange traffic cones, which are meant to simulate the tight corridors of Greensboro’s streetscape.
Nathaniel Moore, Greensboro’s street maintenance and operations manager, said that this is a crucial experience for new employees.
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“This is just to sharpen our skills before we get out to the actual thing,” said Moore, who is in his second year of supervising the training. “We bring employees out to go through a real-world scenario before we get to any inclement weather.”
If you look closely at the trucks as they come down the road this winter — or should we say if? — one can see that their plows are painted with colorful pictures.
Several years ago, Moore says, field operations staff gave them the chance to paint the snowplows. Now when the trucks come down city streets, the kid artists will be excited to see their painted designs on the plows — along with having a familiar snow-day buzz.