“Freightliner Trucks are the Backbone of the County”
Freightliner Trucks Severe Duty Newsletter
Greene County has been a customer of Harrison Truck Centers in Des Moines, Iowa, for more than a decade. In charge of secondary roads, they have a fleet of Freightliner M2 106s and 108SDs that work hard to keep 725 miles of gravel roads and 225 miles of paved roads safe and clear for 10,000 residents year-round.
Greene County experiences extreme weather conditions throughout the year, yet their Freightliner trucks don’t seem to be phased by the long hours in harsh environments. In the winter months, it’s not uncommon to have long stretches of freezing, below-zero temperatures while clearing snow and ice. They have 12 trucks that work 12-hour shifts to clear the roads multiple times per day, plus they are on call 24/7.
“During the winter, the Freightliner trucks are the backbone of the county,” said Jim Osterson, shop supervisor of Greene County. “Without them, we wouldn’t get the roads open, kids wouldn’t get to school, and people couldn’t get to work. We use the Freightliner trucks because they’re reliable and trustworthy. Our trucks are really emergency vehicles, because they open roads during harsh conditions and maybe even save lives.”
In the summer months, central Iowa often sees hot, humid days that can get up to 100 degrees while the team works to spread 120 tons of gravel per mile of road. On average, they haul 13 tons of rock on each truck, and it takes a total of eight dump trucks to complete the job. So uptime and ease of maintenance are extremely important.
“Most counties in Iowa will run many spare pieces of equipment, but that’s not what we do here in Greene County,” said Wade Weiss, engineer at Greene County. “The pieces of equipment we have in service, we want to remain in service, and if they do have a problem, they can be fixed very quickly and get back on the road. We’ve had excellent service times with our Freightliners and very rarely do we have trucks that are out of service.”
Greene County takes pride in getting their roads cleared the fastest and being the cleanest in the area. Of course, maintenance issues do happen, but Harrison Truck Centers has been an excellent partner in both sales and service for Greene County’s fleet.
“Because of the working relationship we have with our dealer, I know that no matter what happens, if a guy breaks something on a truck or if a truck does ever fail, that we can have parts and service 24 hours a day,” said Tanner Stauffer, maintenance supervisor of Greene County. “When I go to bed at night I know those pieces are being shipped, they’ll be here, and that truck will be back up and running.”
When it comes to road maintenance, there’s nothing like peace of mind — for the operators at Greene County, the residents, and the farmers who use the farm-to-market roads to safely transport their crops in and out of the fields. And when it comes to critical work, Greene County can rely on Freightliner.
Greene County has a mix of Freightliner medium duty and severe duty trucks to help maintain secondary roads throughout the year.
“During the winter, the Freightliner trucks are the backbone of the county. Without them, we wouldn’t get the roads open, kids wouldn’t get to school, and people couldn’t get to work. We use the Freightliner trucks because they’re reliable and trustworthy. Our trucks are really emergency vehicles, because they open roads during harsh conditions and maybe even save lives.”
– Jim Osterson, shop supervisor of Greene County