RoadLife 2.0 - Alaska DOT use a Mack Snow Plow Truck to clear the snow

See what it takes to clear the way and keep things moving in one of the snowiest places in North America. Alaska DOT uses a customized Mack snow plow truck to keep the roads clear at the Thompson Pass in Alaska. It takes a tough snow plow truck setup paired with new technologies to do the job safe. See how it all goes down in our first episode of the ROADLIFE 2.0 season.
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[@robertreisner6119]

Been in Alaska my whole life. In 1968 a photo was taken of a D-8 moving snow off of Thompson Pass, it was an effort since the snow was several feet above the dozer's blade. Been though the pass many times and Alaska's D.O.T does a great job on it, so Thanks to all of you for you efforts.

[@Bluebottlenose]

Wow! Greetings from the east coast. I will I lived out north, once I get my engineering degree I plan on moving out to British Columbia .

[@briansumner6439]

My hats off to all of y’all keep up the excellent work up there.

[@chipblock2854]

Now that's my dream driving job!

[@MoFarmBoy217]

My hat off to you all in the Thompson pass....... very few people have experienced a snow plow truck in a blinding storm... handling power of whatever chassis.... not knowing if one should keep going or slow down and stop... expecting to get rear ended.... and YOU ALL are trailblazing new technology of operator guidance to keep you on the road which I have much interest in.... this is not place for a ordinary..... signing off, the TPLow inventor...Bob

[@gem50b5]

Wow. That's incredible!

[@mikehagan4320]

Makes me miss my snowplow days. Nothing like a full blade of snow and shooting a rooster tail of snow out 30 feet.

[@jeffleblanc8850]

Ther awesome trucks the plough is great I see Nova Scotia Canada also uses them as of now although they have a different plough I think the plough is awesome the big snow drifts you go threw it don’t end up on your windshield

[@reeenzdyt4458]

Makes me jealous about my friends job which is the working for the Yukon ice road maintenance

[@billmoney5912]

Bulldog tough, hats off to them drivers. If it ain't a Mack then send it back.

[@macktrucks]

Well said.

[@TheSoloAsylum]

Here in Florida they just run a few dozers down the beach to level the sand back out.

[@squangan]

Not to take anything away from what these operators and plow trucks do in Valdez, however there are a few similar roads in the north that deal with these Pacific coastal mountain passes with their mind boggling amounts of snow and accompanying avalanches. The Haines road as well as the South Klondike highway coming out of Skagway for example easily come to mind, occasionally they reach a point when there is just to much snow for similarly equipped plow trucks trucks to handle and the operators have to use large snowblowers just to get out the shop doors and keep right on going from there with them, now that’s a heavy snowfall.

[@joshtimmons7332]

I haul fuel on the ice roads for the mines North of Yellowknife. I'd love to go to Alaska and help out with this project for a season

[@avijohnson2076]

thinner guy sounds like Red Green hahah

[@nelsonhays]

Trimble GPS! 🤘🏼

[@KenworthKyle69]

They definitely chose the right truck.

[@AquaCarb]

5 days to clear a damalanche seems pretty quick considering all the snow they moved. I would have screamed bring in the blow torches.

[@onebadapple83]

Well....Mack must have given the Alaska Dept of Transportation one hell of a deal on these Macks ‘cause nobody else in the state uses ‘em. Left there 18 years ago so this could be old info. At that time there wasn’t a dealer in the state so if you had one every replacement part had to be flown in.

[@tedpendagast579]

You’ve got old info

[@geekyfran.r234]

What if Mack had engines for tractors or made tractors???

[@Sea-Bass]

I can’t believe those striped down Volvo’s can handle that, they have trouble in Illinois in cold weather. That’s why they’re at least $15,000 cheaper than Kenworths.

[@framfull]

Do they have electric heated windsjield and wiperblades?

[@Sea-Bass]

A year later but I doubt it. Those are built very poorly.

[@animal6289]

Mack trucks best of the best!

[@81Lord-Nikon]

What is the cost of that rig as it sits? I know that the Internationals and Freightliners are around $140K +/- without the plows, sanders, dump beds, etc. And those are usually with Eaton manuals.

[@xx5zi]

WSDOT currently buys Freightliner SD114s, and a ready to run heavy duty 3-axle plow truck with a wing plow, sander, radios, etc, costs around $300K. Considering ADOT/PF's satellite AVL tracking, and some other gadgets necessary to working a snowstorm alone, I'm guessing $400K. I wish we had Macks. Hell, we should be operating Kenworths, since they are made here in our own state.

[@bobfidguello7239]

Tell Mack/Volvo engineer's to better design the placement of the fuel and oil filters so the everyday owner doesn't have to remove the inner fenders to access them which are still buried behind the frame...makes for a pain. Here's an idea,look at Peterbilt how there fuel filters are on the outside of the frame and the oil filters are high enough to access. Would it also be too much to ask why Macks front axle feels EVERY imperfection in the road,Peterbilt's handle so much better and more stable. Macks steering has always been heavy and you really have to work the wheel to keep it between the lines. No bashing just pointing out mine and many others experiences with Macks,then again as they say,you get what you pay for!

[@Sea-Bass]

No bashing, so I will, ever since they were bought by Volvo they are junk.

[@putaindegrosson]

Watcha guys doing in the summer?

[@tedpendagast579]

Fishing

[@mikeznel6048]

@@tedpendagast579 Road maintenance.

[@Peter-pv8xx]

That's one cute plow driver in my opinion, they were paving my street a few years ago and one of the dump truck drivers was a beautiful blonde, I couldn't believe it.

[@ericpitcher5679]

Tug Hill Ny...Hold my Beer !

[@geomodelrailroader]

The MACK Granite the truck of the DOT

[@macktrucks]

Thank you.

[@w.maximilliandejohnsonbour725]

Wow...!!!!!. Nothingi like a Mack.

[@jaysmith5105]

kinda glossed over how you "plow" a 80 ft snow wall thats been frozen for a couple days.

[@matthewmagee919]

Probably getting some D10 dozers in, as well as a stack of wheel loaders.

[@Pure_KodiakWILD_Power]

mo-anna 🤔 what a moniker

[@JustforFun-ki6fk]

Your big snow storms ! where i live we call that a dusting ! Lol

[@sunillouis5539]

Nothing beats a MACK

[@Rieksfier]

Thumbs up if you're gonna search for Damalanche after watching this video.

[@NeilLB7]

Our entire fleet of county highway trucks (15) could NOT keep one mile of this highway open during the storms they get. We don't take pride in our equipment because there are 100 roads leading out. They depend on these trucks....to live.

[@joeinmi8671]

Have you seen my stapler? 2:26

[@dirtrider88]

7:15, hes putting more snow on the road than hes taking off of it.

[@mikeznel6048]

This was a video shoot for a video, not a training or how to plow video.

[@duckman7646]

live in fairbanks you guys are are a joke.just drive around here poor work ethics .roads go for days without being plowed they should go nonunion preformence based contract in fairbanks thee supervisor should be ran off.

[@ToyotaNutjob]

Damn! Haha

[@tedpendagast579]

This is about Valdez , not Fairbanks