Clearing miles of sidewalks during winter operations in the northern half of the nation brings challenges to city, county, and state workers.
The town of East Hartford, Connecticut, maintains more than 19 miles of sidewalks using a sidewalk tractor with a plow and sander. Previously, the manual process of reloading the sander multiple times during a snowstorm required an employee to climb a ladder into the bed of the accompanying dump truck and shovel material into the sander. This raised many safety concerns—doing this work during a snowstorm, staff exposure to chemicals, the potential for slips and falls, and the ergonomic risk of shoveling heavy material from a higher point (back of truck) to a lower point (the hopper).
A crew brainstorming exercise led to a solution that mechanized the process and reduced manual effort and exposure. The new modification to the tractor combines a sander with a directional chute that dispenses material out in a steady stream. Mountings were raised so the sander sits higher in the dump truck to allow for the tractor to slide under the truck when refilling (this is done by turning on the spreader).
Because the team refurbished an old sander, the implementation cost was less than $500 for the added chute material plus labor time.
Now, the loader fills the hopper in less than one minute. Less material is wasted from spillage and material stays dry with a spreader tarp. Most importantly, employee risk has been eliminated. No longer do employees need to climb a snowy ladder into a truck to shovel—they merely have to flip a switch inside a warm and dry truck cab.
The project won the Pioneer Award in the 2024 Build a Better Mousetrap national program.