City prepared for winter ice and snow

New Snow Plows and 1,000 Tons of Rock Salt Ready for Winter Weather Season

The City Public Works Division is ready to battle ice and snow with brand new snow plows and a new purchase of 1,000 tons of salt. For the outstanding road crews who work for the City of Murfreesboro, battling snow and ice is just part of doing business.

Winter weather, a wintry mix of sleet and ice or inches of snowfall, is typically inevitable in Middle Tennessee. City Public Works crews are ready to respond to extreme weather patterns.

“As we have in past winters, the City of Murfreesboro Street Department takes a pro-active approach by applying salt brine to the roads before ice and snow begins hitting the roadway,” said Public Works Executive Director Raymond Hillis. “Our team is always ready to prepare streets and remove ice and snow on major routes this season.”

The Murfreesboro City Council Dec. 19, 2024, approved the Street Department’s purchase of six Boss 8’ Super Duty Steel Plows, one Boss 7’6” HTX Steel Plow, and one Front Plow 10’ Single Axel Package with Air Controls. The winter weather response equipment purchased through City contract with Viking-Cives Midwest, Inc. totaling $98,454 is included in the FY25 Fixed Asset Budget

Snow plows remove snow and ice from roadways and improve safety and accessibility during and after snowfall by clearing pathways for vehicles. Removing snow and ice also reduces the risk of accidents caused by slippery conditions.

The Street Department annual purchases 1,000 tons of Rock Salt under State Contract, which is required annually to ensure City streets remain passable during winter storm events. City Council approved the $106,680 purchase Dec. 19, 2024, from approved supplier Compass Minerals.

In past winters the Middle Tennessee area has experienced snowfall and the long periods of below freezing temperatures. City Street crews are ready to work long hours under challenging conditions to clear roadways during winter weather. The crews are also ready to apply salt brine to major corridors to pretreat City streets ahead of ice and snow.

Motorists are urged to “Take It Slow” in ice and snow. If you are involved in a minor vehicle crash without injuries, the Murfreesboro Police Department asks you to move your vehicle out of the roadway, if possible, to avoid secondary crashes. The non-emergency number for the MPD is 615-893-1311.

Preparing for winter weather begins before any ice or snow hits the ground. A salt brine system pretreats City streets. Four trucks, a brine-making and brine delivery system, will apply brine prior to snowfall, which is more effective than rock salt because brine starts working immediately. The snow removal program is set up on a series of routes—six total routes assigned to six trucks. State routes and major City streets get priority along with critical areas–St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital on Medical Center Pkwy., steep grades, and other problem areas that require attention. The City Street Department currently has a total stockpile of 1,500 tons of salt with snowplows and trucks ready for the winter season.

The City Street Department provides ice and snow removal on State Routes within City limits under contract to TDOT. If motorists see hazardous street conditions that need attention, please call 615-893-4380. Subdivision City streets are typically not salted or plowed due to limited equipment and personnel resources as crews focus on primary thoroughfares.

The City deploys sixty (60) employees for snow and ice removal. These crews stand ready to mobilize when winter weather hits the City. During periods of ice and snowstorms, six dump trucks equipped with snowplows and salt spreaders are used to clear the roads. The Street Department, which is responsible for keeping City Streets clear of ice and snow, maintains a materials storage yard with a stockpile of salt each year.

Salt is maintained at the City’s Public Works Facility located at 4765 Florence and at the Public Works Facility on West Main Street, and at City-owned property on Butler Drive. For brine, the salt is added to a bin where water is mixed in and the rock salt slowly liquefies. The City’s brine system can produce up to two-hundred gallons of brine per minute or 12,000 gallons an hour. Once the brine is properly mixed, it is transferred to a 10,000-gallon brine tank to be stored. The combination of brine and rock salt applied to streets performs more effectively than salt alone.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is responsible for maintaining and clearing interstates, including I-24 and I-840 in Rutherford County.