Brian Ingraham, superintendent of highways of the town of Sweden, is following in the footsteps of his father, Tom, who served as highway superintendent of the neighboring Town of Hamlin, both in Monroe County.
"I looked up to my dad a lot and always knew that this was something that I wanted to do," Brian said. "There were times as a young kid, I would beg my dad to take me to work with him when he went in to snowplow and had to do anything like that."
Town of Sweden highway department photo
Brian began working for the town of Sweden Highway Department at 17 as a seasonal laborer in high school and he participated in the co-op program during his senior year through the Monroe 2-Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES-2) career and technical education center heavy equipment operations and maintenance program. While attending the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, where he was studying heavy construction equipment technology, Brian continued with the department during summers and school breaks.
"I knew when I went to college that eventually I wanted to come back and be employed here full time and eventually work my way up to the highway superintendent position, and here we are today," he said.
Brian began working full-time for the town after graduating college in 2001, first as a heavy equipment operator, then as working foreman and as deputy superintendent of highways.
After his predecessor retired in 2014, the town board appointed Brian to the position. Later that year, he ran for the position and was elected. Brian, now 45 and the married father of two daughters, was most recently reelected in January 2024 for a term that expires at the end of 2027.
One of his first initiatives after taking office was implementing a salt conservation program "to get the best bang for our buck for every pound of salt that gets placed on the road. And that really has done a great job of cutting down our salt usage per person, in addition to our computerized salt application systems."
Sweden averages approximately 100 in. of snow annually. However, totals vary across the town due to lake-effect snow from Lakes Erie and Ontario. Lake Ontario is eight mi. from the town while Lake Erie is approximately 50 mi. away.
The town has 163.51 mi. of road that the department is responsible for when storms hit. The town owns 58.90 lane mi. and contracts for snow and ice control for Monroe County's 68.82 lane mi. and an additional 40.79 lane mi. for the state roads that are in the municipality.
Town of Sweden highway department photo
Before every storm, Brian charts out the snow removal plan with Deputy Superintendent Jacob Moore and Working Foreman Phil Herzog. The team discusses current and future weather and road conditions and, most importantly, the salt application rate the operators will be using on the roads.
"Mother Nature is probably my least favorite part of the job," Brian said. "Storms, wind, snow and ice can make planning difficult. But it's also what makes the job interesting and keeps us ready for anything."
All 11 members of the department work to clear the roads when a storm hits, enough so that they can be plowing 24/7, with one crew taking a break while the other is working.
Before the computerized systems, the trucks were outfitted with a simple on/off switch for the salters.
"Now, we can adjust the spread width on how wide the salt gets spread," Brian said. "You can adjust per pound, almost, how much salt you want to put down per lane mile. And we adjust that as needed throughout the storm."
Brian also has upgraded the town's fleet of snowplow trucks with updated pre-wetting equipment. By spraying liquid deicer, a mixture of magnesium chloride and corn syrup, onto rock salt at the spinner, the salt is activated before it reaches the pavement, which dramatically reduces bounce and scatter, and activates the salt quicker in cold temperatures when dry salt is less effective, he said.
Town of Sweden highway department photo
As a result, he added, "We've been able to lower total salt application rates, reduce return passes and cut fuel and labor hours per storm. Our investment in updated pre-wet equipment has lowered winter maintenance costs and improved our operational efficiency."
In addition, the department has installed live edge plow blades on all of its snowplows. Live edge plow blades reduce snow and ice costs by maintaining continuous cutting-edge contact across crowned and uneven pavement, resulting in a cleaner scrape on the initial pass. This minimizes residual snowpack, lowers salt and chemical application rates, reduces repeat plowing and overtime and decreases mechanical stress on plow equipment, Brian said, adding these improvements have produced overall budget savings of 15 to 20 percent.
Other members of the department include motor equipment operators Brandon Armstrong, Justin Espenmiller, Jeff Moss, Adam Shade, Todd Swan and Rick Whitten, laborer Connor Warner, motor equipment operator and assistant mechanic Josh Flannery and head mechanic Cody Hinchey. There are also six part-time seasonal employees.
Secretary/office assistant Susan Kuszlyk "does a great job keeping everything organized and operating smoothly," Brian said.
"I can't say enough about my team," Brian said. "They are the reason we are successful. They work long hours, in all kinds of weather and handle every challenge with skill and dedication. I'm constantly amazed at their commitment, teamwork and pride in their work. Honestly, any success I have as superintendent is because of them."
Brian said challenges are finding equally skilled personnel to fill positions along with the rising costs of goods and services.
Town of Sweden highway department photo
From June through mid-September, the department works 10-hour days Monday through Thursday. There are five-day work weeks the rest of the year, from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A dispatcher is on shift 24/7 during snow and ice season, from Nov. 15 through April 1.
The department's budget is $2,022,200, including work they do on the town's highways, sewers and cemeteries, in addition to the roadways. The most recent CHIPS allocation was $137,934.
Brian is getting pricing for a new salt storage facility that can store a winter season's worth of salt, at least 3,500 tons. The old facility was built in the early 1990s and has a capacity of 1,000 tons, which is no more than a season's worth. In recent years, Brian said, there have been occasional salt shipping delays.
"There's constant deliveries of salt to keep us full," he said. The estimated cost of a new salt storage facility is $500,000. It would be very convenient and easier to plan if we could have a snow and ice season's worth of salt. The goal is to have it sited and built within five years."
Also in the planning stages is another cold storage barn. The department has two 50-ft. by 100-ft. cold storage buildings and another 30-ft. by 30-ft. cold storage building.
"We just don't have enough covered indoor space to house all of our equipment and keep it protected out of the elements," he said. "The main goal would be to have something where we can get all our equipment inside."
The department has 11 dump trucks, the oldest one from 1996 and the newest one purchased in 2026; 11 small trucks, from 2009 to 2025; and 13 trailers, ranging in age from 1988 to 2025. There are more than 20 other pieces of heavy equipment, including two dozers, two front-end loaders and four excavators.
Town of Sweden highway department photo
"Obviously, the price of equipment and trucks these days is very expensive," he said. "By keeping things under cover and inside it will help us prolong the service life of the equipment and trucks and get more years of life out of each item."
Brian credited the department's mechanics, Cody Hinchey and Josh Flannery, for their preventive maintenance and repair work.
"We try to complete all this work in-house with our mechanics and avoid sending things out to be fixed unless necessary," he said. "We try to stretch every dollar as far as we can and our mechanics do an outstanding job doing so. We try to be as proactive as possible to prevent premature failures and downtime. We follow manufacturers' recommended service intervals and all of our maintenance history gets logged into a computerized maintenance program.
"Our town board has done a great job funding and supporting our equipment replacement schedule with our equipment reserve fund and our operating budget," he added. "We have been able to update the majority of our fleet in the past 10 years, which has been instrumental."
In addition, in 2019 the town board authorized municipal bonding of $1.4 million to catch up on long-overdue road and parking lot repairs outside of the operating budget. When the current bond is paid off in 2029, Brian said he would seek another bond approval so the department can plan ahead without raising costs.
"This allows us to avoid spending spikes while keeping up with necessary road reconstruction," he said. "I have been working on a long-term roadwork plan for this to prepare for 2029 and I will work closely with our town board to hopefully move this forward."
The department building has nine bays for trucks and includes office space, a lunchroom and a locker room.
When the weather turns warmer, the department turns its attention to road maintenance and repair. During the past few years, the department has been testing out a more environmentally friendly warm mix asphalt.
Town of Sweden highway department photo
Warm mix asphalt is produced and placed at lower temperatures than hot mix asphalt. Plants use less fuel consumption for asphalt plants and produce less greenhouse gas emissions. It also utilizes recycled asphalt and it provides better compaction.
The town of Sweden uses warm mix asphalt on longer stretches of roadways where there's less hand work to be completed.
Warm mix asphalt is $2 a ton more than hot mix asphalt. That works out to approximately $2,000 a year more than hot mix, but because it can be compacted quicker, cars can get on the roads faster. He added that the county prefers Sweden to use warm mix on projects completed on the county's behalf.
The department also has a preventive chip sealing maintenance program, which entails spraying emulsified oil on the road. It seals the asphalt and provides a new wear surface, which extends the life of the road.
The town of Sweden was incorporated in 1814 and has approximately 13,900 residents. On its website, the town claims "it remains committed to the elements that have made it successful for 200 years — agriculture, education, recreation and community service."
Within the town of Sweden is the village of Brockport, which has approximately 7,870 citizens. Sweden provides paving and site work services to the Brockport Fire District and to the Brockport Central School District.
Sweden makes shared services purchases when practical with Brockport. It recently secured a Local Government Efficiency Grant from the state to purchase a combination sewer cleaner truck. Sweden also shares a street sweeper truck with the town of Parma and town of Clarkson and shares equipment with other surrounding municipalities.
"It's very important to work cooperatively," Brian said. Some of those larger paving projects, we can't do by ourselves. We just don't have enough personnel. We're always borrowing personnel and trucks and equipment at times just to be able to get these jobs done in a timely manner. Every municipality that surrounds us, we're all more than willing to assist with whatever's needed to help get people's jobs done and save money."
While approximately 70 to 80 percent of the department's time is spent on road maintenance, crews also work on small construction projects around the town. Among the department's accomplishments have been the construction of a dog park site work for a new lodge and parking lot, an accessible playground and for splash park and skate parks.
Brian is a member of the New York Association of Town Superintendents of Highways and the chairman of the board of directors for the Monroe County Association of Town Superintendents of Highways. He also serves on the advisory board for the heavy equipment operations and maintenance program for the Monroe 2-Orleans Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES-2) career and technical education center.
"Every day is the best day, and I look forward to coming to work every single day," Brian said. "I try to instill that same sense of pride and motivation in my employees as well."
No doubt, Brian's father couldn't have said it better himself. P
