Planning to drive this winter? Here’s how the roads are kept clear for you

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CEDAR RAPIDS — For many, driving doesn’t usually require much forethought most of the year.

But for cities and municipalities across Iowa, winter weather requires a little more planning. For the Cedar Rapids Public Works Department, it takes days of planning, dozens of snowplows, and hundreds of staffers working around the clock to make daily travel possible.

It also takes thousands of tons of salt, hundreds of thousands of gallons of brine and other organic compounds that all make science a winter motorist’s best friend.

Brian McLeod has served in the Cedar Rapids Public Works Department for 29 years, the last three of which have been as streets superintendent. Prior to becoming superintend