FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) State snowplow drivers are getting a new tool to clear roads faster.

Plow drivers in Fairbanks are awaiting the next snow dump to debut the state’s new Viking Cives-brand tow plow, a trailer that carries a plow, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

A conventional front-mounted snow plow truck tows the trailer. The trailer carries a snowplow that can rotate to the right. Together, the vehicles can plow two lanes at once, a swath about 24 ft. (7.3 m) wide.

The Fairbanks district took delivery of the $92,000 plow trailer last spring. It took time to hook up the hydraulics, said Dan Schacher, maintenance and operations superintendent.

Ron Davis, the Fairbanks-area equipment operator foreman, said plowing time will be halved at some locations.

A pair of plow trucks had used a full eight-hour shift to plow the Richardson Highway between Fairbanks and Eielson Air Force Base making five round trips. A team with the new trailer should be able to clear the roughly 25 mi. of four-lane highway in half a shift, he said.

The trailer was designed by road maintenance workers. It’s used in 22 states, said DOT spokeswoman Meadow Bailey.

Drivers will find using it different that a plow truck by itself, Schacher said.

“They’re apprehensive, but there are a lot of them also excited to do it. I want to do it,’’ Schacher said.

The department bought other tow plows for Anchorage, Juneau, Soldotna and in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Bailey said.

The department last year incorporated another piece of equipment, the Raiko icebreaker, a spiked drum that attaches to the front of a snowplow to break up thick ice deposits. Fairbanks shared an icebreaker with Anchorage for testing. Fairbanks now has two icebreakers, Schacher said.

This story also appears on Truck and Trailer Guide.

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