Road crews prepare for another round of winter weather
Columbia Public Works and Boone County Road and Bridge workers are preparing for another snow.
But while many people try to avoid driving when winter precipitation falls, plow drivers’ job is to hit the streets at one of the worst times for travel.
“We’ve been working it seems like seven days a week,” said Brandon Heyen, a Boone County Road and Bridge maintenance worker. “I’ve had hardly any time off.”
Heyen said this winter has been difficult for workers. Though he enjoys what he does, he does not have much of a personal life.
“It’s hard to make plans when you might have to work at three in the morning or work until seven o’clock at night,” he said.
The area has been pounded by frequent snow and ice this winter, taxing public resources and pushing road crews harder than most winters. More snow and ice was expected to start falling on mid-Missouri by Tuesday night and continue into mid-morning Wednesday.
MIke Wheeler works with the Columbia Public Works Department. He said his job has 12-hour shifts.
“It’s harder on my wife I would say than it is on us being here,” he said.
Wheeler said when his kids have snow days or when it’s the weekend, he’s still in at work.
“You come in for a night shift and you get home and you’ve got to sleep all day and you can’t see your kids because you’ve got to be back in here the next night,” he said.
Not only can the job be taxing, but it could also be dangerous. Heyen said other vehicles out on the roads while the department is plowing could be hazardous.
“The more traffic, the harder it is to plow roads,” he said.
But both Heyen and Wheeler agreed keeping people safe is worth it.
“It’s dangerous, but our job is keep the streets so they are not dangerous,” Wheeler said. “We clear them, we spread salt on them and we make them drivable to the best of our abilities.”
