Lake County May Enlist Supercomputer To Plow Snowy Roads
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. (CBS) -- Starting a couple of winters from now, Lake County may enlist University of Illinois supercomputers to figure how best to plow snow bound north suburban roads.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's John Cody reports, Lake County Transportation Director Marty Buehler says one job for the computer is making sure county plows only travel roads they have to plow.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's John Cody reports
Podcast
"We don't plow state roads. Those are plowed by IDOT. So to get from our home base in Libertyville to any of our routes, we would travel down the state roads to get to our roads, and those are called deadhead miles because we're not plowing those roads," Buehler said.
Buehler says the U of I will also factor in dozens of parameters – including stop lights, traffic patterns, time of day in figuring the best way to plow lake county roads, with the best routes to be available for the 2012-13 snow season – if approved by the Lake County Board.
