MoDOT prepared for winter weather

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Transportation is preparing for winter weather conditions and held a winter operations drill Thursday to practice snow removal routes.

"We're always preparing for the worst possible case scenario because it can happen at any given winter," said MoDOT Central District Maintenance Engineer Jason Shafer.

Shafer said the Central District has more salt on hand this year than last year.

The central district has 38,000 tons of salt spread across its 24 maintenance facilities in 18 mid-Missouri counties. Shafer said about 30,000 tons of salt was used last winter overall.

The department has vendors to replenish salt if needed but Shafer said the vendors can only produce salt at a certain rate.

"While we're able to get salt in the winter, we're not able to get as much simply because there are other cities and counties and states all competing for the same salt," he said.

Last year MoDOT's Central District spent $8 million on snow removal.

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