Nashville debuts Dolly Plowton as city expands snowplow fleet

A new snowplow named Dolly Plowton cleared snow from Nashville streets for the first time on Saturday. The truck, painted with purple and pink snowflakes and named to evoke a Tennessee heroine, made a public debut in West Nashville amid waves and whoops from onlookers.

Greg Bergstresser, 23, spent much of a 12-hour shift behind the wheel as the plow pushed snow off local roads. William Shelton, who usually cuts trees for the city but helped on the weekend, said he would “keep driving ol’ Dolly.” Students in Nashville public schools designed the paint schemes and names for Dolly Plowton and four other new trucks: Music City Plow, Blizzard of Oz, Snowella and Frosty the Snow Plow.

The additions expand Nashville’s fleet to 45 plows; the five new trucks cost about $350,000 apiece and the city spent about $200,000 on a driver training simulator. The larger plows are the first to use iPads with digital routes, and the city said there are about 603 additional miles of roads to be cleared this winter compared with past years.

City officials and staff noted that the main concern during the weekend storm was ice rather than snow, and the Tennessee Department of Transportation reported responding to dozens of traffic incidents as snow began to fall. Many motorists heeded warnings to stay off the roads, and the city said it hopes the new equipment will help reduce winter disruption while urging residents to stay home.

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Culture, Dolly Plowton, Nashville, Dolly Parton, Greg Bergstresser, Nashville Transportation Dept