By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Ebenezer Scoop, Lake Scooperior, Snowy Robinson and Truck Norris are some of MDOT’s newly named plow trucks that have been busy clearing Livingston County roads and freeways.

The Michigan Department of Transportation earlier released the winning names that were submitted as part of a contest to engage the public in naming snowplows across the state.

All 330 plows have been named, although MDOT’s MiDrive website shows only those that are active. The few not shown are either back-ups or out of service while others might be new and haven’t been activated yet. The popularity of labeling the plows in Scotland inspired MDOT’s project, which was said to be a big undertaking.

During MDOT’s Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Media Relations Representative Nick Schirripa said the project generated a lot of interest and positive energy - with 15,400 names being submitted. He said some were very funny and witty while others had great plays on names such as Gordie Plow and Alice Scooper.

Schirripa said the initiative aimed to highlight where plows are at in a fun way but also raise awareness about safety when it comes to what operators go through when plowing snow and performing other winter maintenance out on the roads. He commented that the initiative humanizes probably one of the least recognized group of people in their agency as well as others – the maintenance workers and plow truck drivers who are doing dangerous work that often go overlooked to some extent and or are at least taken for granted but are really “rock stars” and “borderline superheroes”.

MDOT’s MIDrive website shows where each plow is at, the name and what work is being done. It also allows the public to view real-time information about crashes, road work or other slowdowns, as well as camera images. Livingston County is represented in MDOT’s University Region.

A link to the complete list of the winning names is provided.