Upstate New York snow removal gets a boost from new tech

In December, “the DPW installed a series of roadside cameras and sensors that plow truck operators can access via cell phone application to monitor conditions on 14 major county roads from Queensbury to Johnsburg and communities in between,” the DPW said in a statement.

There will be no public access to the aforementioned roadside cameras or cell phone application, the DPW told The Post-Star.

These roadside cameras will send pictures and weather data such as temperature to the phone app every 15 minutes so DPW crews can see how and whether the weather changes, and whether attention is needed, according to the DPW.

This latest technology is yet another example of a new adaptation to fight the harsh winter weather in Upstate New York. Highway departments in several municipalities across the county have begun to transition away from salt usage on the road in favor of brine as a more eco-friendly choice.

“We have to have the equipment to deal with things like massive snowstorms or additional brining. Modern technology, we need to invest in it. We want to be resilient,” Queensbury Town Board member Harrison Freer said back in October when the town invested in new trucks for the Highway Department’s brining program.

So far it’s been a mild December in terms of snowfall accumulation in Warren County, but this technology will become useful once the heavier snowstorms arrive in January and February.

The Department of Public Works is responsible for overseeing all Warren County highway and bridge construction, maintenance of all road machinery and snow removal, according to the DPW website.