The Iowa State Patrol has been alerting motorists to be aware of DOT snowplow trucks after three more units were hit by vehicles in Western Iowa on Monday (02.17).
That comes in the wake of 15 snowplows the Iowa DOT says were hit while working during the snowstorm on Wednesday, February 12th.
Field Services Coordinator Pete Hjelmstad says the DOT’s Mason City District experienced two of those collisions, including on US Highway 63 at mile marker 186 in Bremer County, just north of the Iowa 93 intersection. Another snowplow was struck on Iowa 27 ramp to Waterloo Road in Cedar Falls in which a car ran a red light and T-boned the plow.
Hjelmstad reminds motorists to give snowplow trucks room to operate.
Hjelmstad adds that another snowplow strike occurred Saturday (02.15) on US 218 near mile marker 223 in Floyd County in which a semi side-swiped plow. However, the semi didn’t stop and Iowa State Patrol troopers later located the truck in Mason City.
The DOT says the 15 snowplow truck strikes on February 12th were a one-day record during a winter season. The previous single-day record of snowplow hits was nine in 2024.
