Snow removal

Folks around here do an amazing job of snow removal. One evening soon after we arrived, we were out for a walk and saw a convoy of eight vehicles plowing the snow from a four-lane street. Each vehicle was offset a meter or two from the one ahead of it and working in combination they were able efficiently to move two lanes of snow to the center of the street. Some of the vehicles looked like the plows we see in Boston, with sand spreaders in the back. There were also water trucks fitted with plow blades and graders (with blades mounted between the front and rear wheels.)

I was initially puzzled about why they put the snow on the double yellow line in the center of the street, since in Boston they put the snow into the gutter and then move it later if it’s not melting quickly enough. Since Minsk doesn’t expect a thaw, however, they are conscientious about picking up all the snow they move. They have a really great machine with a scoop at the bottom with two arms that pull the snow up to a conveyor belt, over the top of the machine, and into a truck following backwards. They can haul off a whole lot of snow in a hurry this way.


For smaller jobs, the most common piece of snow-moving equipment is tractors fitted with a plow blade in the front and a rotary brush in the back. Here’s a picture of a medium-sized version with the brush lifted. These babies are amazing. The plow blades have a brush at the bottom, and they don’t scrape the pavement. Then the rotary brush moves the last inch of snow out of the way.

Folks in Belarus really take good care of their stuff. The non-scraping snowplows are one example, and another would be the way the plow drivers are attentive to stay on the paths when they plow out the parks. Let’s just say that this is different from Boston!