BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — Supervisors at the Bismarck airport are already planning for colder weather. And that includes spending almost a million dollars on some heavy equipment.

Last week, the Bismarck City Commission approved a request by the airport to order a new high-speed runway broom. During snow events, airport maintenance workers run 24 hours a day, with the broom leading clearing operations followed by airport snowplows.

The new device will be built by MB Companies in Wisconsin, and will cost the city around $774,000.

Airport Director Greg Haug says the cost will be paid back with a future passenger facility charge application.

“If we plow sometimes,” Haug explained, “it leaves a glaze of compacted snow, with an icy top to it. And it can actually take our pavement friction values, it makes them worse than if we broom it off. If we broom it, we can get right down to the concrete.”

Haug also notes that due to a current backlog of orders from MB Companies, they don’t expect to receive the new broom until sometime in 2025.