The New York State Thruway Authority is rolling out safety improvements and new equipment in preparation for the upcoming winter season.
All the Thruway’s more than 250 heavy-duty plow trucks have been equipped with green hazard lights, complementing the standard amber hazard lights. Green lights are intended to improve visibility and safety during winter operations, particularly in low-light conditions and poor weather. Green lights on plow trucks will be used for snow and ice removal.
In addition to the green hazard lights, the Thruway Authority will be deploying more than 50 new pieces of snow fighting equipment statewide including 19 new heavy-duty plow trucks which are scheduled to be in service by the end of the year, 25 medium-duty snowplows, loaders, skid steers with snowblowers and snow pushers, light-duty pickup trucks with plows and spreaders, new salt spreader bodies, as well as two snowmobiles and a UTV for the New York State Police Troop T. Overall, the Thruway Authority has more than 400 snow fighting vehicles and pieces of equipment ready to be deployed for the first snowfall.
Furthermore, this will be the first winter for the new and improved Thruway Statewide Operations Center (TSOC) located inside the Thruway Authority’s Administrative Headquarters in Albany, which opened in August. It’s a communications dispatch center that coordinates traffic incident response, is responsible for emergency management, and provides traveler information throughout the entire Thruway. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year long.
The Thruway Authority is also launching a pilot program in partnership with iCone that will equip 50 heavy-duty plow trucks with devices that can provide real-time data to popular vehicle navigation applications such as Google Maps and Waze. During snow operations, the device connects with navigation systems to alert drivers about potential upcoming hazards, such as snowplow activities. This alerts motorists to be aware and to navigate the area safely, significantly enhancing driving efficiency and ensuring the safety of plow operators.
“The Thruway’s snow fighters are the best in the business when it comes to preparing for storms and clearing snow,” Thruway Authority Executive Director Frank G. Hoare, Esq. “These new safety improvements will further enhance the protection of our more than 700 plow operators and supervisors, along with the millions of drivers who depend on our system every day.”
During the 2023/24 snow and ice season, Thruway Authority operators cleared more than 1.1 million lane miles, removing roughly 172 inches, or more than 14 feet, of snow.