Brun-Way Develops Swing Arm to Prevent Collisions with Snow Plows

Have you ever heard of Echelon Plowing? It's a fairly new practice to remove snow from roads and highways, and one New Brunswick company is trying it out.

For its winter operations, Brun-Way utilizes Echelon Plowing, the practice of staggered
snowplows across all lanes of a highway. Echelon plowing is the safest, and most efficient overall snow removal method for multi-lane highways.

Echelon Plowing passes a ridge of snow from the lead plow on the left side to the following plows on the right side and is capable of clearing all lanes of the highway at once. Due to contractual agreements all snow banks must be subsequently removed from guide rails with 72 hours and it is much safer to perform this task from the right side of the highway due to the wide shoulder, leaving both lanes open to traffic.

It is extremely dangerous to pass between or around snowplows during echelon plowing operations because of blowing snow (whiteout conditions) & the ridge of snow being passed between plows.

Snowplow operators will decide IF & WHEN it is safe to allow the traveling public to pass and will periodically open the distance between plows to facilitate traffic movement.

In the continuing effort to keep motorists as well as employees safe, Brun-Way decided to develop and design a Safety Swing Arm. It consists of a 10’ mechanical arm installed on the back of the lead plow truck. When the right side wing plow is deployed, the arm simultaneously extends to create a further visual and break-a-way physical barrier between the motorists and the right wing plow. “The hope is to prevent plows being lead off the road due to impact between motorists hitting with the right wing at the front of the vehicle”, said Brun-Way OMR Manager Romeo Poitras. “Several Canadian and US Transport Agencies face similar issues on multi-lane highways and are looking forward to seeing this new concept used to reduce this type of collisions”.

Brun-Way Highways Operations is responsible for the operation, maintenance and rehabilitation of 275 kilometers of Trans-Canada Highway from the Quebec border to Longs Creek, west of Fredericton, and Route 95 between the United States border and Woodstock.