Ingenuity lands Knox County an award

VINCENNES, IND. (WTHI) - A southern Indiana highway department honored for its inventive approach to low cost snow removal.

The Association of Indiana Counties presented its 2011 Achievement Award to the Knox County Highway Department.

The winning project is not only a money saver for Knox County, but one other highway departments are looking to duplicate.

Going into last winter, Knox County wanted to cut down on its snow removal budget.

They knew pre-treating roads with salt-brine would save some money, but they didn't have the money to buy a complete system, so they built their own.

"It just kept developing a little at a time," said Knox County Highway Foreman Bruce Donovan, "and we thought well we can do it this way. You know we had a lot of input from several different guys from different backgrounds from farming and working in industrial."

The final product was so successful the State Association of Counties gave the department its achievement award for this year.

"We've made leaps and bounds," said President of the Knox County Commissioners Kevin Meyer. "We've got the right people in the right places. I'm so proud of these guys."

Knox County spent $18,000 to build the brine system.

It would have cost them $100,000 off the shelf, but that's not all of the savings.

Every time a truck goes out it's saving $300 on sand and salt.

Other counties from around Indiana are now coming to Vincennes to find out how to do the same thing.

"We're willing to help out anybody we can because it's going to be a cost saving for the entire state, doing it a cheaper way," said Donovan.

Now the system that was built to save some money locally is not only doing that.

It is also getting the highway department some recognition and helping other counties save as well.

Knox County received the award at the Association of Indiana Counties convention this week in Fort Wayne.