Missouri Department of Transportation preparing for holiday travel weekend

MoDOT told ABC 17 News that it has all 225 of its trucks in mid-Missouri loaded and ready to go for the weekend.

It’s preparing to pre-treat roads as early as Friday morning to be ready for the possible icy conditions moving into mid-Missouri.

“The pre-treatment keeps the ice from bonding to the pavement. If you can keep it from bonding to the pavement, you still might have slushier conditions, but you can get the material off the road much quicker, so it will speed the process up in getting the road back to near normal conditions,” said Mike Schupp, MoDot engineer.

MoDOT warned that drivers still need to watch for icy patches, especially on bridges.

AAA is predicting this Christmas to be the busiest on the roads than ever before. Some of the reasons for this are lower gas prices, and because Christmas and New Year’s fall on Wednesdays this year. This allows people to be more flexible with their schedules.

So if you can’t avoid the roads this weekend, MoDOT warns drivers to expect the unexpected this weekend.

“The best thing they can do if they have to be out there is really slow down. Do not use your cruise control and allow plenty of room between you and the other vehicles,” said Schupp.