# City Plowing Speed



## Meatplow (Oct 2, 2009)

Hey all, 

I was wondering what the most appropriate rate of speed would be to plow snow on the city streets?

Maybe a speed also I should not go above/below while plowing. 

I am very new to this and wanted some idea of a heads up so folks don't see me tearing up the streets at like 30 mph, hah.

Thanks in advance.


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## fatboyNJ (Dec 22, 2007)

i dont have as much experience and many ppl here but have about 8 years on our local road dept driving a single axle cdl dump during the winter....
i think that conditions have alot to do with this...here we dont get as much snow as you would but from my time here it seems for me on my more main streets im prob around 20mph maybe a tad more...on our side streets which are all residentials im prob around 15 or so...of course then i have a street where i can actually get up to about 40-45...

from my own experince seems it would be about half the speed of what u would usually drive in normal condititons


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## JR Snow Removal (Jul 16, 2008)

around here they accelerate until the next light or stop sign haha I've seen them do about 55-60 no joke i couldn't believe how high the snow was flying looked like a massive snow blower from a distance


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

Are you contracted by the city to plow city streets? Or do you work for the city? Just curious as to why you ask?


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## quigleysiding (Oct 3, 2009)

ussmileyflagWe do 15 to 20 mph unless it is wet slushy snow. Then we have to fly to get it off the road .But when you do that it sandblasts your truck.The salt and sand gets into everything. This summer i took my front plate off and it was full of sand still. I wash it weekly winter and summer, Thats life for a plow truck.


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## jimspro (Oct 9, 2009)

as it takes alot more time to stop when the truck is plowing i wouldn't do more that 15 to 20 on city streets, and 40ish on highways, i have a x-county highway truck and a few years ago i was just driving down a slight grade, plow in the air and the box was almost empty of salt, i started sliding and thank god the guy that was stopped at the stop light saw me going sideways and ran thru the light or i would have creamed him, i was going maybe 20 in a 35 zone, just take your time


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## Meatplow (Oct 2, 2009)

Ok great, that's a big help for me. I appreciate the help fellas. I'll aim at keeping it to 15-20 mph. And when higher speed areas are to be done, I'll keep it on the lower part of MPH/2.

Yes, I have a contract with my local city. Otherwise I wouldn't touch the street with my plow considering the city is a bunch of "explurative." 

Thanks gents!


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## ColliganLands (Sep 4, 2008)

i plow for a town also
we typically between 25-45 mph depending on the street/conditions/and type of snow (wet or fluffy)
couple tips also keep lots of windshield fluid in truck, bring extra set of wipers, keep spare parts for the plow in the truck, extra headlight bulbs, and make sure you have some type of a deflector on the plow if you plan on going over 5 mph


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## Young Pup (Aug 13, 2004)

Meatplow;859517 said:


> Ok great, that's a big help for me. I appreciate the help fellas. I'll aim at keeping it to 15-20 mph. And when higher speed areas are to be done, I'll keep it on the lower part of MPH/2.
> 
> Yes, I have a contract with my local city. Otherwise I wouldn't touch the street with my plow considering the city is a bunch of "explurative."
> 
> Thanks gents!


The reason behind my question, I was wondering why they don't just give you some guidelines as to what your speeds should be. I am surprised that they don't make you go through some training for plowing on streets too. I don't know I have never plowed city streets, only lots. So I figured there must be course they would have you take or complete a training obstacle course.


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## Meatplow (Oct 2, 2009)

Yeah, there's no training course for my city. I kinda wish there was so I feel better about not hitting granite sidewalks and things. I think they don't care about anything other then having room for 2 large cars being able to pass on side streets and as close to the curb as possible on the main streets. 

I'll take some pictures if/when it snows and show you the job I did. 

Talk soon


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## SnowGuy73 (Apr 7, 2003)

Between 20-40 mph depending on the street.


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## mercer_me (Sep 13, 2008)

I go about 15 to 20 MPH when I'm plowing town roads with my wheeler. If you go to fast your plow bounces to much and can rid up on the snow.


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Depends on if I see someone walking down the sidewalk then its just fast enough to blow them full of snow.


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