Ohio Turnpike snow plow driver Ben Gumont explains how the equipment operates using buttons, a computer screen and a joystick. The turnpike’s Canfield Post’s 10 plows and other vehicles were on display Tuesday. Staff photo / Allie Vugrincic

CANFIELD — With winter just around the corner, Ohio Turnpike employees are busy this week completing annual equipment inspections to get a fleet of approximately 100 snowplows ready.

Tuesday morning the Canfield plows underwent a 136-point inspection, checking the functionality of the truck as well as the specialized plow, salt and liquid-spraying equipment.

Crews begin preparing the plows for the winter season as early as May and perform maintenance on the trucks year-round, deputy chief engineer Chris Matta said. In the summer, the trucks — sans plows — are used for other road maintenance.

“If they’re not plowing, they’re not just sitting around,” Matta said.

He said upkeep on the trucks is important, both to extend their life and also to make sure they’re ready for a snowstorm.

“We try to get on average a 12-year lifespan out of a truck,” Matta said. The Canfield trucks are model years 2009 to 2018, he said. One truck with the necessary attachments costs a little more than $200,000, and can go higher depending on the size.

The Canfield maintenance building and its 10 snowplows are responsible for clearing the pike between mile marker 216 and 241, one set of service plazas and the associated interchanges.

Matta said he’s seen the most winter accidents occur when drivers drift too far to the left or right onto the berm and hit uncleared slush. That’s why the turnpike has trucks with “wing plows” on the sides to clear snow a safe distance from the yellow and white edge lines.

“That means the drivers are like angels,” Turnpike public information officer Brian Newbacher joked.

Plows are operated by single drivers who are responsible for keeping an eye on their equipment, as well as the changing traffic and weather patterns around them, Matta said.

“Imagine all that at the end of a 12-hour shift,” he said.

Inside the cab, an array of buttons, computer screens and a joystick offer options to drop salt or liquid at different quantities or speeds, to curl or angle the plow, and even to wash rearview cameras.

Matta said the joysticks are “like video games” and the truck operators become skilled using the controls in the same way kids get good at using controllers.

During snowstorms, pairs of drivers work alternating 12-hour shifts seven days a week to clear the roads.

Eight maintenance buildings along the Ohio Turnpike are responsible for about 1,395 lane miles, 31 interchanges and 14 service plazas.

avugrincic@tribtoday.com