Business Is Booming For Tulsa Area Snow Plow Drivers

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Tow trucks are not the only ones in overdrive from the winter storm.  Independent snow plow drivers across the Tulsa area have been working overtime to clear parking lots and side streets.

While most main city streets are clear, lots of neighborhood roads and parking lots still look awful and that has got some folks working around the clock.

During the summer Ron Hanlon fires up his truck to haul trees and maintain lawns but during the winter, he straps on a five-foot blade and does a different kind of clearing.

"That's right. Put on a snow plow and plow snow when we've got it," Hanlon said.

Tulsa got plenty of snow and Hanlon and his three-member team have been plowing and scraping all over town, including a nearly twelve hour shift on Christmas Day.

"It pays the bills," Hanlon said.

They have cleared nearly thirty properties in three days.

As if he has not spent enough time behind the wheel, he is plowing his neighborhood for free.

"With as much sleet as we had, the first places we pushed we were getting right down to the concrete and the asphalt. I don't know if the ground was just that warm and it piled up good. It was a good rolling snow," Hanlon said.

But that good snow has now melted and re-solidified into treacherous ice and with more snow in the forecast Hanlon says the roads could get much worse before they get better.

"It's probably going to be a real mess now, because all of the ice is still there. A lot of the ruts in the residential areas. A lot of these streets are so rutted up where people have driven through and it's refroze. It's like a washboard effect when you drive," Hanlon said.

After thirty years of navigating the snow dunes and icy ruts, Hanlon has some simple advice for drivers.

"Stay home. Stay out of the way. Let city crews do it. Let guys like us do our jobs," Hanlon said.

Hanlon says another reason to stay home, the risk of getting stuck. He says when he's not scraping lots, he's towed about five cars out of ditches.