Trying not to lose the road
MILTON -- The satellite phone that was meant to track plow driver Brian Pasquantonio's movements rode silently on the dashboard yesterday, adding or subtracting nothing from the sometimes harrowing job of keeping roads clear and open.
Staring down the winter's first crippling snowstorm, the 36-year-old Milton native guided his massive, red-and-yellow snowplow and spreader back and forth along a 5-mile stretch of the Southeast Expressway, the same snow-swept stretch of highway he has cleaned for the state for 20 years.
One of more than 1,000 private contractors clearing roads around Boston for the Massachusetts Highway Department at the height of the weekend northeaster, Pasquantonio shrugged when asked by a Globe reporter along for the ride about the controversy surrounding the high-tech tracking device.
"It's a change, and people aren't sure about it, but we'll just have to see how it works out," he said.
Under an agreement reached Friday, hours before the storm unleashed its fury, private plow contractors, who make up 95 percent of the state's snow removal fleet, agreed to carry the phones starting in January.
The state said use of the technology would improve safety and accountability by tracking movements of contractors. They had opposed use of the technology, but relented when highway officials agreed to keep the old paper system for calculating payments.
MassHighway officials said that as many as 2,000 of the tracking systems, which resemble cellphones, were already on the roads yesterday. Commissioner John Cogliano said the benefits were immediate: using GPS computer mapping to see the exact locations of equipment and contacting drivers directly via the walkie-talkie feature in their trackers, the state redirected plows and spreaders to meet shifting needs during the storm.
"Right there, it's worth its weight in gold," Cogliano said. "It's a great management tool that allowed us to be more productive in this storm. . . . Eventually, the contractors will realize the benefits, too."
Yesterday, Pasquantonio's tracking device was quiet, but the cab of his truck was noisy with the occasional rumble of the plow and the distant shifting sound of the spreader dropping sand behind. He wore a hooded sweatshirt, his jacket discarded on the floor, sometimes listening to country music on the radio or calling home on his own cellphone to check in.
A father of five children, including 8-month-old twins, Pasquantonio said he has been plowing since he was old enough to drive. His father, Don Pasquantonio, is still active at age 60 in the family business, Towne Tree and Landscaping, as is his brother. Landscaping is the summer work; in the winter, they fire up the plows and take to the roads.
Private contractors earn from $40 to $203 an hour for state work, depending on the size of their equipment, a MassHighway spokesman said. When a major storm hits, contractors may work for two or three days straight, with short breaks. Pasquantonio brings along a toothbrush and toothpaste.
After two decades on the same section of the Southeast Expressway -- he can catch a glimpse of his house in Milton on the southbound drive -- Pasquantonio knows the road like his own name. His work is monotonous: a slow, five-mile haul north on Interstate 93, while plowing or sanding; a turnaround at exit 13, where the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority takes over responsibility; and another 5-mile drive south to Braintree.
But it can be anxious. Accidents may stop traffic for an hour or two, and speeding drivers sometimes clip his plow, threatening damage that could take it off the road and cut his income.
Yesterday, a chain broke on Pasquantonio's plow. Though he had another handy to replace it, the snowy 15-minute repair job left him driving in wet clothes for hours. Worst of all, the delay also let the rapid snowfall pile up, a situation drivers describe as "losing the road."
"Your feet get wet, you're tired, and driving in the snow takes a lot of concentration," he said. "I don't think people realize how hard you work out here."
Statewide, more than 3,000 plows and spreaders worked the roads in the worst of the storm. In Boston, plow driver Richie Kennedy, 37, said he was on his fifth cup of coffee while traveling in a steady loop through the Back Bay. Each time he circled back down a street, he said, residents had filled it again with shoveled snow, which he promptly plowed back onto their tidy walkways again.
