Road crews across mid-Missouri preparing for the winter storm

Columbia Public Works started getting its trucks ready at 3 Saturday afternoon.

The full staff came in at seven.

The Missouri Department of Transportation had its 225 of their trucks in the mid-Missouri area on the roads at 6 on Saturday.

“We are always ready to go. This is very routine for us, but each storm is a little different, and how we battle it is a little different, but our resources are the same. We have folks monitoring the weather, we call our crews in when there are needs and we have watch crews out if we think it is necessary. And once the storm hits we get out there and start plowing,” says Sally Oxenhandler, with MoDOT.

MoDOT had trucks out monitoring the weather Saturday afternoon, but did not call in all of their crews until 6.

Crews are pre-treating the roads with salt while they wait for the snow.

Sally Oxenhandler told ABC 17 News that because of the extreme temperatures, it may take longer to get the roads cleared because the snow will not be melting.